Shadows In The Night
by SuperDork1346
Summary: Have you ever felt stuck? Like the world was going on around you and you were encased in cement? Well, the turtles were quite literally living in a cement block and so it was only natural for them to escape into the night. But they aren't the only ones who find comfort there...and suddenly they aren't so alone. (2k4/2k16)
1. A Studio With a Lonely Dancer

**Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT, the Harry Potter reference or the band mentioned. I only own Angel, Jasmine, Charlotte and Antoin. And the plot of this, though it might be similar to ones you've seen. I can't be the only one that's thought of this, but maybe I am. Who knows.**

 _Angel's POV_

"Get out of my face." I growled at Jasmine as she flicked her forked tongue in my face for the second time. I had gotten angry at her for making fun of my heavier set weight so I had made a comment about her scales. Now we were doing everything to get the other to hit first, knowing the rules. You never hit first, but you hit last.

Before anything could start, Charlotte got in between us. "Knock it off. Jasmine, you know that's a low blow and bordering on bullying which is is not allowed in this house. Angel, you know that being rude back does nothing but edge her on." She bared her teeth for Jasmine when she flicked her tongue behind her back, effectively making her slither off to her room in fear. With her back still turned, she ordered me out.

I huffed at her as I stormed away, glad I had changed for training. Black leggings, loose grey sweatshirt, sneakers and a black sweat band that covered my ears. I might not be as sleek and agile as the others, but I was faster than Antoin and was stronger than all of them. I could climb faster, dig faster and was way better at finding hiding spots. They all like to show off. "Stupid girls, thinking they're better than me." I heard a crash to my right, coming from the old dance studio. No one really went in there so I was ecstatic to finally having something to do. By the time I was finally inside, it appeared whoever it was had left the broken table and ran. "Fine, I hate exercise anyway. It's not for fat people."

The lights flickering made me jump, till I was face to face with my reflection. I flinched away at first, hating what I saw. I used to be beautiful, the best dancer in this studio. I had long hair that fluttered around me as I moved, blue eyes like cornflowers and skin that was as soft and smooth as silk. Then the Foot came and grabbed some of us as we were practicing. Some of them died during the trials, some of them survived till training. I was the only one who got through to the last level. Now, my eyes aren't that pretty blue...They're completely brown with large black pupils, muddy and disgusting. No whites surrounding them to make them pop, or even the right shape. They look like someone cropped out the whites of two eyes and then photoshopped them into my face. My hair is no longer it's lush red color, but a dull brown. It's not soft, it's rough and thicker than a trunk. I keep having to chop it off at my shoulders, which makes it almost impossible to throw up in a ponytail. I'm now freakishly tall at 5'7, which only makes my weight worse. Who could lift me if I still danced? Surely there was no one strong _and_ tall enough for that. I towered over almost everyone. The one benefit of this change was the bronze skin I always envied from my mother now permanently graced my skin.

I glanced around stupidly to see if anyone was looking, before sighing. "One, two, three." I might not have been able to dance like the ballerina I was, but at least I could still dance to my music. I started the song in my head as I moved to the beat. If only I had a stereo that worked.

"I thought you said fat people don't exercise." The voice seemed to realize I could hear it just as I was spinning around. The lights blacked out before I could see his full appearance, but my eyes quickly adjusted to the dark. He was big, like bigger than me big. Maybe 6'5? And he was muscled, like bodybuilder muscled.

My breath caught in my throat, thankful he didn't want to be caught breaking in. If he had seen my eyes, that would not have been good. At least my ears were covered. "Yeah well, when you have an Aerosmith song stuck in your head you kind of have to dance to it. Or you are officially the lamest human being ever."

"A rock fan who spends her time in a ballerina studio. Does this person have a name?" He seemed surprised at his own boldness, stepping back for a second. But then he seemed to steel himself and come forward more. Hey, I couldn't see him and we wouldn't share full names. We probably won't even see each other again. What's the big deal?

"Angel." And that was how I met the first person who only judged my music taste. What guy doesn't like rock?

"A sane one. My ears are permanently damaged from when my brother got his drum set. Literally all he would play was your music, my dad almost had a conniption." He was leaning on the back wall with me, having found a few pillows to sit on. We were a few inches apart, but I could smell the sweat and hint of pizza wafting off him.

I relaxed as we chatted about siblings. Apparently he had three brothers, him and the drum brother were twins. Then there was boy genius and his baby brother. We kind of left out names as we chatted, going for nicknames and funny phrases instead. Like at one point he referred to his home as "the Lair", which I laughed at. "Nice, because it has to be kept secret." We continued on like that before realizing we had to get going. It had been almost two hours since I had first left. "It was nice meeting you Leo, maybe I'll see you again?" I wanted to kick myself for asking that, but then he nodded and I swear a smile shone through the dark.

"Yeah. And if you get a knew phone, we can swap numbers." He disappeared into the shadows, leaving me to imagine what he looked like...And why he might have stayed to just talk with me after he saw me dancing.

I ran home so fast I think I got whiplash from the wind, but I paused when I reached the roof of the factory. Would they have noticed? Did they care? We'd only been a group for a few months now, we were still working out the kinks...But when I walked in, I got a face full of Charlotte.

"Where have you been? You didn't get injured did you? Did you have to lose someone?" Charlotte was staring at me wide eyed with worry and my heart skipped a beat. She cared? Then there was Jasmine who was apologizing for making fun of me and Antoin who was hugged me..."So?"

I almost told them, I really did. But then I realized I wanted him to be my secret. This guy will a laugh that filled the room, that liked my moves and made the stupidest jokes. I wanted him all to myself, so I did something I'm not proud of. I lied. "I stopped a mugging, got out of there quick. Purple dragon saw me and tried to follow so I had to make sure I ditched them before I came back." I shrugged easily, surprised at how the lie just danced off my tongue.

They bought it so quickly and I didn't even have to elaborate. By the time I had gotten myself into my room and been left alone, the excitement was wearing off. But I was still smiling. _He can never know. But he doesn't want me to know either...so maybe?_ I giggled into my pillow to muffle myself, hoping no one heard me. And for some odd reason, I slept like a baby that night.

 _Raph's POV_

Solo patrols were the easiest to deal with, when there was no fearless leader to boss me around, no smart ass Donnie to critique everything and no Mikey to get pissed at. I could have invited Casey to make this more interesting, but he was most likely busy at this time of night and I kind of needed a break.

"Help!" And that started my night of running around from one disaster to the other, saving this person and that while they begged for their lives. Sometimes I didn't understand how human could be so breakable, they could snap with one punch. But luckily for me, I was being directed to my favorite getaway spot. The abandoned factory that had gotten taken over by the Purple Dragons for a little while before finally just getting abandoned. No one ever really ever was in there, so my brothers never paid it any attention. Making it the perfect spot for my get away.

 _CRASH!_ I jumped a foot in the air when noise started coming from the building as a figure swung from the top level in through a window onto the lower one, probably having gotten there from the roof. The figure was tall, well built. Maybe from a gang? When I didn't hear any cursing like I usually would, I got interested. No one could smash through those windows and land on that much glass without hurting themselves and that meant cussing. Normally.

I quickly made my way through to follow the person who had invaded my hideout, getting ready for a fight. When I found out it was a girl, she had let her hair down and she was muttering about stupid siblings, I just blinked before continuing to track her. I barely lasted a second till she was on me, scratching at my face and arms. I slammed my fist into her stomach, hoping it winded her long enough for me to breathe. She barely flinched as she was thrown back from the force, coming back for more.

"You are not taking me back!" She went for a quick kick, a jab and a low blow but I dodged them all. But then she seemed to pause. "You aren't...Who are you?" She moved out of my reach, disappearing into the shadows. I was lucky I was at least mostly hidden from a clear view. "You aren't a Dragon?"

I snorted. "No. But you're hanging out in my spot and attacked me, so shouldn't I be the one asking questions?" I watched her outline relax, probably thinking I was some guy who stayed here and was just defending my turf. "You've got to be trained by someone at least, you're tough. Most people pass out from a hit like that, you didn't even flinch. Not to mention your hands must be scratched up bad from landing on that glass."

She mocked my response to her ridiculous question with her own exaggeration of my snort, ending in a giggle. "As I'm sure you beat up a lot of girls and are surprised to find one that doesn't fall over you, I'm tougher than that. And my hands are fine."

"I wasn't saying you were tough for a girl, I'm saying you're tougher than my brothers who train everyday to learn to fight. They all at least wince when I hit them." I used her surprise as a distraction, surprising myself in the process as I grabbed her hands to check them for wounds. They were hard and calloused, but completely fine. Like the glass wasn't tougher than her. "You weren't kidding." I let her pull away, hearing fearless cursing in my head if she noticed that I only had three fingers.

She tucked hair behind her ear, the movement quickly capturing my attention. She seemed to be nervous about something to, waiting for me to comment on her hands or something. "Do you have like no feeling in your hands or something?"

"Why? Cause you got callouses and I don't think anything of it?" Her breath caught as I talked. "If I freaked out over every detail of some being weird, I couldn't be in the room with my baby bro." I smiled as I heard her laugh, before realizing something. I was talking with a human. A human who thought I was human. Someone who I hadn't saved, wasn't part of the police or April. And I was calm. This was too weird. I should not be feeling like this, so comfortable with a girl I just met. I was leaving.

"And then I was like, excuse me for not being what you expected. I'm still going to kick your ass, so I don't see what the problem is." We laughed together as we sat on parallel sides of the chimney on the roof, telling stories of fights and stupid siblings. Currently she was telling me about her run in with some of the Purple Dragons, and how one didn't realize she was a girl. "Oh, it was awesome."

I moved so I could stretch my legs, glad the clouds covered the moon and the lights from the city didn't reach here. It was nice to talk to someone who didn't want to know everything and understood. She didn't question me or want to know anything about me. Let me say what I wanted, when I wanted. It was easy as breathing with her.

"You know, I have to thank you for not being like most guys. They usually assume I'm some weak little thing because I'm a girl. You made a mark on my strength as the first thing you said to me." Her voice wavered for a second before returning to its previous strength.

I smirked into the darkness. "The first thing you do is almost kick my ass into next year. 'Course I'm not going to bitch at you for being a girl." And for some reason after getting back to the lair, I simply gave Mikey a light punch on the arm and went to meditate with Splinter. He'd been trying to get me to do that for a while, so I just thought I'd see if I could actually sit through it. Wasn't that bad, but I kept getting weird looks. Won't be doing that again.

 _Antoinette's POV_

Training was fun but the other girls seemed to not understand what I was. I was mutated with honey badger DNA you see and that did not make me a Hufflepuff. You see, Char at least had an instinctive respect for me and usually left me alone. Jas was down right terrified of me after I told her about my usual diet. But that all went away when training happened, it was like I was suddenly this tiny helpless thing that needed to be protected. Piss off, as if.

I walked the streets below with pride, always hanging in populated areas to ward off gang activity. Besides, most people were terrified of me. Even if they didn't know my species, I was still a threat on these streets. I brought fear onto those who dared look at me, or a little something different. Depending on my mood. I used to be bigger, a little lankier maybe, but I controlled a gang that the purple dragons were terrified of. Though I do still have some of my old contacts in both, I lost my status.

Evidently, someone didn't get the memo. I could sense someone watching me from the rooftops, probably a newie gang member who thought they were cool for spying on some chick. Maybe waiting for me to go home and change so he could stare through a window. I smirked at the thought, imagining what would happen if he saw me without this hoodie. He would see the birthmark colored stripes that made their way across my face, the razor sharp nails that cut through flesh like butter. Maybe then he'd be scared, but he'd still want to see. Till I opened my eyes and his human ones met the eternal darkness that were mine.

"You going to follow me all day, or are you going to fight me already?" I glanced up at the figure, smirking at him through the bottom of my hood. When he didn't move, I shrugged. "Fine, I'll come to you." I charged the alley, releasing my claws I as I made my way up the wall, not even noticing the pain from the climb anymore. I swung myself onto the roof, skidding to a halt in front of the dark figure.

He tilted his head at me, a peaceful smirk appearing on his face through the dark. "Hi. I'm not part of a gang." That much was obvious, he was way too care free and unsure of himself. Complete opposite of a gang member, or at least a good one. But he was well built, not only from working out at a gym but from fighting, hard labor.

I snorted from the sheer weirdness that was this guy. "Cool. I'm not either. Want to run with me?" I was feeling the adrenaline still and I wanted an outlet. "Sure you can keep up with a mutant girl?" I walked backwards towards the other side of the roof, a challenge in my eyes.

"Mutant, huh? Guess you might actually be on my level." He took off before I could comprehend that, racing over to the next rooftop with ease. "You going to stand there and stare or run?" His grin was now clear in the light of the moon.

"Oh, it's on."

Running felt good. The burning in my legs as I leapt from roof to roof, the free falling feeling that came with the longer jumps, the adrenaline running through my veins. But racing, oh it was so much more fun. He kept up with me, even passing me a few times. I finally noticed his scent was gone, pausing at the end of the roof. "What?"

I could only see his outline in the dark, but I didn't really go by sight. Everyone had a specific smell, family members having similar ones. The brothers he always mentioned probably all had that thick musk scent mixed with hardwood, but they didn't share the kitchen smell he did. It was barely there, but he smelled distinctly of a diner or restaurant. "There's something I want to show you." He moved to a large shed on the edge of the roof which made me raise my eyebrows, but when he opened the doors all that faded away.

The inside of the shed was covered in fairy lights that didn't hurt my eyes and illuminated the paintings all over the walls and the book nook in the corner. The lights were something I wasn't sure about but then he dimmed them so we weren't fully visible to each other. "Did you do all these?" I traced my fingers over one of the ones on the wall, flinching as I heard paper rip. "I'm so sorry.." I retracted my hands, feeling a heaviness land on my shoulders. Even without my claws out, my nails could do a lot of damage.

"Hey, it's fine. I actually haven't been here in awhile so they are all my crappy ones. If you want, after I leave you can turn up the lights and take which ones you want." He rubbed the back of his neck as he took it down carefully, putting it on a stool in the back corner. "My names Mikey. I like to draw and cook. I don't usually talk to strangers, or _mutant_ strangers for that matter."

I laughed as I curled up in his reading nook, noting his disbelieving tone. He didn't think I was really a mutant. "I'm Antoinette. I like to look at pretty things and eat sweets. I don't talk to strangers either." I curled my claw like fingers into my palms, sighing. "They're usually terrified of me anyway."

Mikey kneeled in front of me, taking in a small breath through his nose. "You're bleeding." He held out a gloved hand expectantly. When I placed my hands in his, he looked at them through squinted eyes in the dark. "You have sharp nails. Remind me not to get on your bad side, cat scratches sting." He grinned as he reached into his back pocket, bringing out a gauze to wrap my hands in. "You know, I have some things I hate about myself too. My hands are disfigured from an accident, my nose is flat and my skin is rough. No one really likes to look at someone like that. From what I can tell, you've got a defense mechanism. I have a deformity."

I growled lowly as I retracted my hands. "Hold still." I tried to keep the hardness out of my voice but it slipped in as he stiffened. "I'm sorry if I scratch you, I'll try to avoid it." I let my fingers ghost over his gloves, finding that two of the fingers folded under my touch. So he'd lost two fingers, so what? I huffed. "Deformity my ass..." I next went to his arms which were _really muscled_. I could see what he meant by rough, but it was..."Like callouses..." I next flinched as I felt him twitch beneath me, making me pull away. "Sorry, did I cut you?"

"No, it's just...We're really close and we just met and yeah you scratched me put it's like those white lines when you bump into something, I'm not bleeding. And I'm not really used to being...touched." He shifted awkwardly as I tried to make out his arm, pouting as I realized I left my glasses at home. Badgers have really bad eyesight and it was annoying that I got that too. "I'm fine."

I sighed. "Fine. But if I hear one more body _deformity_ comment from you mister, I'll kick your ass. You are a weird stranger who decided that I was cool enough to hang out with and I am not letting you forget that." I crossed my arms, narrowing my eyes.

I could hear his heart rate suddenly increasing and the unnoticable hiccuping intake of breath. "Okay. That means I'll see you again?" When I nodded, I heard him shifting to get up. "I have to go, but I'll be back next week. I'll have a surprise for you."

I smiled as his scent slowly disappeared, the lights slowly brightening. I could kind of see the artwork, but I was annoyed I couldn't take it all. I wanted it. I needed it. So, I was determined to come back. I grabbed as much as I could hide, sprinting back to the factory. I brushed past everyone as I locked myself in my room, pinning up all the papers. I scrambled around for my glasses, suddenly seeing just what I was surrounded by. "Oh, wow!"

 _Donnie's POV_

No, I did not like solo patrols. Why? Because it meant my lab was unguarded and I had to go back to a disaster zone and Leo yelling at who ever touched it and _me_ for not thinking of ways to stop them. I hated it, but it was necessary. Little did I know, I was going to enjoy solo patrols a lot more than expected.

"SHIT! FUCK! OW!" Rang through the night as I made my way across the rooftops. _What was that?_ "Stupid thing, doesn't even...screw you..." It was a girl, maybe my age and definitely pissed about something. Suddenly a toy was thrown at my feet in the shadows as she glared down at the streets. "I wonder if she had the right idea..."

Recognizing signs of suicidal behavior, I quickly analyzed the toy and fixed the problem. It was a wind up and one of the gears had fallen out of place. I let it go so it could unceremoniously march next to her and squeak. I held my breath as she stopped it from falling off the edge, whirling around to face my shadow.

"Come out where I can see you or I will crush you." She was tall, lanky and moved like a ballet dancer. Her voice was rough but easy. I couldn't see her face or eyes because of her lowered hood, but even through her sweatshirt I could see her muscles. It was actually quite terrifying since biologically that shouldn't be possible on a human female.

I snorted. "How about no." I immediately regretted my decision as her head whipped around to my position. "Not Foot or a Dragon, just leaving." Of course that didn't turn out too well, as she started to stalk towards me with a dark smile.

"You can't hide in the shadows...I can see your..." She froze in place before looking down at her hands and back at me. "You're cold bloodied." _Fuck_. _Wait, how would she know that? And since when do I swear, even in my head?_ "Like me." And that's I think when my head exploded.


	2. Sick Days and Nights

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or any of it's characters. I own Angel, Jasmine, Antoinette and Charlotte. I own the plot of this story. That is it.**

 **AN: Hello peoples, it is your favorite author - JK- here to thank you for reading my story and to ask you for reviews! I love the compliments, criticism, guesses for what's going to happen, questions. I once got told I made someone cry, which was nice to know since I evoked that emotion.**

 _Leo's POV_

Maybe it had gone too far, my visits with Angel in the abandoned dance studio. Maybe we should have never said we would meet there again because...well it was turning out to be a big mistake. "No, guys I'm fine to go on my patrol tonight! I'll be..." I coughed into my elbow and flinched away from the blood spatters that appeared when I lifted my head. "I've fought Foot in worse conditions then a little chest cold."

"Leo, I can take over your shift it's fine!" Donnie waved his hand at the brother on the couch and instead looked at the other two. "Sorry Mikey, your shift was yesterday. You can deal with hanging out with Raph for a partner patrol." He looked way to smug for a guy who was going to have to possibly clean up his lab when he gets home.

My brothers disappeared into the night, leaving me to be annoyed while sipping tea on the couch. I was having a _great_ day. Not for the first time, I cursed Angel for not having a cellphone to text on. Then I could tell her I was sick and to not go to our spot. Then I could explain everything without trying to find her before our next "date" or whatever it was that we were going to call it.

By the time they returned, I was an antsy mess as I tried to force myself to be better so I could leave. I knew I was in no shape to fight anyone at that point and there was absolutely no possible way I was putting Angel in danger. That left me with drinking so much tea, that at one point I just drank hot water without noticing because the flavor was stuck in my mouth from the last ten.

"Bro, you okay? You look like you're about to wet yourself, throw up and pass out at the same time." Mikey was usually joking around when he said ridiculous stuff, but in that second he was dead serious.

I waved him off before realizing I shouldn't be standing, my entire body swaying. "I actually don't feel so good." And true to Mikey's word, I passed out.

"Angel? Are you in here?" I called into the darkness and almost wished she wouldn't respond so I wouldn't have to face her possible wrath. "Angel?" I moved until I was at our spot, sitting down and sighing. I had taken over Donnie's shift for that night to repay him for taking the one when I was sick. Isn't it funny when you have to pay for things you were forced into? **(AN: sorry, I tend to rant)**

Movement drew my attention, I could see the outline of her body as she leaned against the mirrors. "So, pretty boy has come back to visit me! I wonder if he's going to explain why he didn't show up two nights ago when he said he would."

I smiled in spite of the fact that she sounded ready to murder me. "Did you really want to see me coughing up blood?" Her entire body tensed. "I got a little chest cold, drank a lot of tea. And some plain hot water because I didn't notice..." She was laughing at me suddenly, but at least she wasn't upset. "So you see, I couldn't show up. I dragged my ass out tonight though, didn't I?"

"You did. You did." She moved to sit with me and relaxed her back into the wall. "Must have been hard, I know guys tend to think they're dying when they have a cold. But you would know all about that, wouldn't you? Just having a brush with death." Angel was definitely laughing at me now, her body shaking as she tried to keep her voice calm. Sometimes I wished the lights would turn on, just so I could see her laugh. But then I would remember if the lights did turn on all she would do would be scream and run away from me.

I laughed thinking of how that perfectly described Mikey. Yelling about what he wanted for his funeral and begging for death to just take him already, Raph called him a Drama Queen for a week before he had to stop since without fail, Mikey would start princess waving whenever he did. "I had to get pinned to my couch by my brothers, they thought it would be a terrible idea for me to go into the gang infested part of the city at night when I couldn't stop coughing. Or stand up apparently."

"Ah, the infamous brothers." Angel was probably rolling her eyes at me if her tone was anything to go by. "I should have known you weren't the leader. A leader would have ordered them to let you get up." She was joking of course, or at least purposefully trying to wound my pride, which wasn't her style.

"I already told you I'm the oldest, doesn't that make me leader?" I could almost picture the face of the voice in the back of my head whisper, _Doesn't make you a good one_. "I got appointed leader too, so it's not like I just chose it and demanded everyone follow me blindly."

"I follow you blindly. Or at least I did, into this spot, it's pitch black in here." She rolled her neck a little, cracking it a few times before relaxing again, leaning back on her hands. "Do you ever wonder what I look like? What color my eyes are?"

I froze as my heart stopped beating for a second, trying to breathe normally again because she just brought up the elephant in the room. Appearances, no faces just shadows lurking in the dark. "Sometimes. But for me to know that, the lights would have to be on and you'd see me too." From what I remembered of seeing her the first time, she had dark hair and was almost my height. But I never saw her face, it was always hidden or turned away from me.

"No, the lights won't turn on." Angel sighed. "But I can tell you if you want. And then you can tell me." Oh, so she was curious too. What was I going to say when she asked about hair? Tell her that I didn't have any? "My eyes are brown."

There wasn't any harm in this, was there? It was going to be alright? "Mine are a kind of blueish green, I guess." I blushed as she snorted next to me, probably from my "dorky answers" as she called it when I hesitated or added on the "I guess" part. "What? It's true."

"No, you're just guessing what your eye color is because I have realized what you are! You hide in the dark, can't see yourself in a mirror and stalk girls..You be a vampire!" She put her fingers next to her mouth and mimicked fangs, her hands creating darker shadows on the floor then there already were.

"You are such a weirdo, I don't understand how you even exist." I rolled my eyes at her but I was loving it more than I wanted to. Even something as serious as what we looked like turned into a joke with her, like the world was laughable if you looked at it the right way. She kind of reminded me of Mikey a bit but her jokes were a little adultish sometimes and she knew when it was a time for a joking and a time for being serious. "Did the aliens drop you on this planet to punish us?"

Angel growled at me playfully and shoved me. Later I would realize her growl sounded more like an animal then human, and she was strong enough to actually make me budge. "No, just you and your army of dark knight brothers."

"Ah, so I am your test subject to see the best ways to get..." I caught myself before I could say _under our shells_ because that would _definitely_ make her question my humanity. "...under our skin." Luckily, the pause was small enough that she didn't really notice or only thought it was a hiccup. "You found anything good yet?"

"I wouldn't have said under your skin, more like in something a little stretchier. Unless you're one of those skinny jean types of guys, because no on two levels." Angel pressed herself onto the wall again, stretching her back so her body made a backwards C. "I like my boys..."

I don't know where it came from or if it was even me who said it, but suddenly the words "wearing no pants?" came out of someone's mouth in a joking tone. My face suddenly got hot, hoping it was just in my head or she didn't hear me. Of course if this was April, she would just ignore it because it made sense to her. They were turtles, turtles _do not_ wear pants, or at least don't need to most of the time. If I really thought about it, it would made sense to wear clothes if they ever went anywhere colder...Off topic. Anyway, this was not April. This was Angel.

"You follow me home lately and find out? Oh, I forgot. Vampire Stalker Dude is your full name." She dodged as I reached out to flick her, laughing. "I don't know which is worse! Vampire Stalker Dude or Leonardo Di Pantso!"

I just started at her before she shrugged and admitted it wasn't one of her best. "What does that make you, Angelica Di Recluso?" She tried to whack my arm again, but I moved too quickly for her. She finally got a hit on my chest, causing me to cough a little and freeze.

She immediately stopped laughing and was kneeling next to me before I could blink. She was so close, I could feel her breath. We'd been sitting next to each other every time but this was different, it felt different. "Are you okay?"

Oh I wished. But with how close she was I was having to force back the impulse to pull her to me or touch her face. I couldn't, I wouldn't and so I didn't. But there she was trying to see me through the darkness, close enough for her jeans to be pressed between her knee and mine, and I knew then and there that this girl was going to be the death of me no matter what I did to try and stop her.

 **AN: So after this I only have the base idea for the next two chapters, but then I have four of the next ones finished. We'll see how this goes with everything else in my life being shitty. Love you all, though no one is probably reading this, have a wonderful day.**


	3. It Is What It Seems

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or any of its characters. I do own Jasmine and her "sisters", as well as the plot of this story. Please enjoy.**

 _Jasmine's POV_

My life before the foot took me was different from the others. Angel was the good American daughter who did Ballet and got good grades, who dated the captain of the football team. Antoinette was a badass gang leader who ignored the rules and made her own. Charlotte...she couldn't remember anything, not even most of her time with the foot. That was something all of us wished we wouldn't have, the memories. The pain. But there's only started when they were taken as teens. Me...I was taken earlier. You see...they had investors. Shredder and Eric Sacks didn't have the funding originally, so they took a silent partner and that partner needed reassurance. First it was the turtles. Then it was me, because I was an easy target.

" _Hello baby, how are you feeling today?" It was the man with the curly hair, who smiled at her and gave her red lollipops when she told him what she knew he wanted to hear. When she said something right, his head would be warmer because of the increased blood flow. He was thinking. Thinking was good. "Please answer using the words we learned today."_

 _I smiled at him and opened my mouth to speak, my tongue flickering in my mouth as I tried to force the words out. "Good. Sssa..." I tried to force the F out but it was hard to do the way my teeth had formed. I could see him getting upset that I couldn't do it. "Ssssattteee."_

 _He sighed. "That's not right." Lollipops might have been the reward for doing things right, but the other end was more extreme._

"Jasmine?" I shook myself out of it and just waved them off, heading away from the building. "Just...going out for a run." The air was freezing against my body as I moved easily through buildings and over rooftops, dancing around lights and laughing in the dark. Donnie was right, this feeling was amazing. Even though I usually hated the cold, it felt nice on my skin tonight as it told me that all the people out there were huddled in buildings with something to warm them up, whether it be chocolate or vodka. Or both. And yet I had never tried either.

I watched as a couple danced in their apartment, swinging each other around and getting drunk on the dizzy feeling it gave them. "Stop, I'm going to be sick!" But they were laughing and when one of them sat down the other just pulled them right back up. I wished I had that. I would just be a girl, a mutant girl.

Movement caught her attention on the streets as another group of guys went past drunkenly, freezing her in place. Wasn't that guy one of the ones from the first group? And then it hit her harder than one of Angel's punches, they weren't drunk guys looking for the next bar to hit or the next girl to chat up and grope. Okay, maybe they were usually. But tonight they were gang members on patrol, stumbling around and laughing to shift suspicion off themselves by anyone who would be watching. "Party in the HOUSE!"

The other guys laughed but it was more forced than anything else, angry that he was bringing attention to them. "We ain't even got a house because we blew the roof off!" Another one responded, seemingly joking but there was something in his eyes.

And then I knew who they were and what they were doing. Their faces had been plastered all over the new for a while, having escaped prison. Apparently they'd made a deal with the devil and were now under his protection for shit jobs like this. They were the ones convicted for felonies, not crimes of passion and anger. They were cold calculated attacks that had been planned down to the second, whether they were muders or spreading drugs to kids who just needed something to take them away and it end up taking their lives. No, it wasn't the drug dealers fault. They only got them addicted by offering it.

How could the Foot hire them? They were part of the reason why their member count was so low...Everyone else was addicted to drugs or...She didn't even want to think about it. "Anyone up for a little..rondevu with our new lady friend?" _Karai..._

"She's scary...I think we should just shove Will at her and see what happens...Maybe she'll eat him." They all laughed as the one in the middle paled. "Ah, we're just teasing. We know she'd just shoot you on sight after that whole flirting fiasco."

"I'm surprised you even know what that means." Of course talking in a silent street to a group of well trained killers probably wasn't the best thing to do, as they all whirled around to look at her as soon as she opened her mouth. "We got ourselves a night watcher..." They laughed like it was an inside joke, leaving me to disappear into the dark. "Where'd she go?"

"You better run bitch! Or we'll make sure you never get caught _watching_ someone again!" One of them even threw a knife at her to emphasise the point of them gouging her eyes out. Stupid mistake, you know. I might be a slight hoarder, but mostly it was shiny stuff. Like weapons for example.

I snatched it up out of the ground and sliced off the handle to check for trackers and bugs. "Stupid, not even trying." I laughed as I wrapped the blade quickly and stuffed it somewhere for safe keeping, continuing on my way. Maybe Donnie wanted to do a little recon with me...

"Jasmine!" Charlotte was walking next to me then, and she didn't say anything until we were away from the streets, too high to be heard or seen. Or maybe just to dizzy to care. "You know, I can't remember much before this. You all seem to think I'm blank, but I'm learning slowly. If I write down my dreams and I read them enough I start remembering smells. Stuff I touched. Did you know my parents thought I was deaf? They taught me how to sign and I learned how to speak faster than they thought I would but that was because I could hear them, just a little. But they had to be close enough to me for that.." I just listened, like I always did when she talked. Did I care about this? Eh. But it was something other than deafening silence. Bad phrasing? "I'm telling you this because you seem to hate me for not remembering it but I'm trying. And I didn't have a normal life either, I know what happened to you back there. Cause I get them too, just not from the Foot."

As time went on, she wasn't the only one who noticed the increase in gang activity. Donnie was logging it, Charlotte was tightening the rope on anything outside of our home, leaving everyone feeling a bit tense and biting. For instance, Angel and Charlotte morphed at one point and started fighting each other. Paws against paws. Angel was stronger but Charlotte was faster and dodged more. Eventually Antionette just morphed and hissed at them both till they split up and went to opposite ends of the building.

It only got worse when I left and got caught by the Foot, injected with something and thrown into a dumpster. I was left tied up with a note on my forehead, "For the strongest Dragon." Charlotte almost took some lives that night. I was too weak to fight either, but I forced it down and told myself I was just tired. I was just tired.

 **An: I loved writing this and I feel accomplished. The next chapter will be more fluff to make everyone happy cause I'm about to ruin your lives after that...just kidding! Kind of...Well hope you enjoyed and please review! I love constructive criticism and telling me what you like really helps! But just a reminder telling me to update and nothing else doesn't make me want to update any faster.**


	4. Kisses and Cars

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the turtles, Splinter or any recognizable characters from any of the different versions. I mostly write with the recent TMNT movies that are out, but I will use my knowledge from the cartoon/tv show. I think it was the late 1980's - 1990's one, where April and Casey get married.**

 **An: Hey Y'all, so I have a question for you. I have a few chapters already written out after this one and I was wondering if I should post them all at once or maybe space it out and just do it sooner than the monthly update thing...It's whatever you guys want. Thank you to TheNomadsTotem for being my only reviewer so far, it meant a lot to me when I saw it. I hope you like this chapter.**

 _Donnie's POV_

It felt weird having someone to talk to that was actually interested in what I had to say, even if they didn't understand it. When she struggled to follow along, she would ask questions until she got it and let me continue, the questions petering out over time as she came to understand what I was saying more. She wasn't as interested in the science behind my project as I was, she just thought the end results were cool and liked how excited I got over it all. "And this here, it causes the chemical chambers to release into this part here which causes the reaction which powers it..."

I looked up at her to see if she was following me but her eyes looked glazed over even if she was watching me intently. "I'm listening Donnie, it's just really cold up here." I hadn't noticed, but she was shivering slightly. "It's hard to focus when..." She looked shocked when I pressed My arm around her shoulders, drawing her to me. "How are you warm? You were cold blooded the first time I saw you."

"That usually happens when it's really warm so my body doesn't over heat. I'm like the perfect mix of human and turtle. It's now I would survive in the desert if I ever went, my body would change tactics and I would need more of the heat. But if I'm in a cold area, my body runs warm to keep me from hibernating. It's weird, right? But I guess that's what it did to us..."

Jasmine smiled at me and nuzzled into my side. "At least I get to steal your body heat if you are. And don't ever go to either of those places, the desert is literally a giant beach so sand gets everywhere and there's no water to play in. You feel like you're trying to cool down the entire universe." Before I could even open my mouth to correct her, she rolled her eyes at me. "And yes I know he universe is cold and only stars are warm but my point still stands."

I kissed her hair and smiled as it tickled my muzzle. "Hey, I wanna show you something. But you're going to have to trust me on this. Is that okay?" When she nodded, I brushed my fingers over the front of her face to let her know to close her eyes, my fingers lightly brushing over her scaled eyelids and the dusting on her cheeks like freckles. I took a deep breath as I pulled off my mask and wrapped it around her eyes as a sort of blindfold, kissing her nose lightly. "I know you hate being in the dark so I'm going to talk to you the whole time, I swear this is just because my family and how badly they would freak out if you knew where our lair was." I smiled as she giggled in my arms, my body moving without thinking to the secret entrance to my workshop. My brothers wouldn't bother us there, besides Leo and Mikey were on patrol. "Stop making fun of me for calling it a lair! It's just what we've called it all our lives! And as you cleverly pointed out, you call your bedroom your nest!"

"Hey, I'm a snake." But she stopped talking quickly as we went over an especially large gap, not wanting to bite her tongue off. She just clutched my shoulders tighter and pressed her face into my collar bone. She was smiling though, I could feel her breath and she tended to breathe more evenly when she was breathing through her mouth.

I smirked as we finally got to the door, holding her with one arm and typing in the code with the other. As soon as we were inside, I told her I was going to take the blindfold off, quickly undoing the knot and retying it around my own eyes. She laughed when she saw me struggling for a second, instead giving up on it and sitting on a chair so she could reach it and do it for me. "I'm still taller than you."

"I am almost 6' feet tall and you still make fun of me. How could you do this to me?" She pouted and glared at me from our now even eye lines. "You're such a di..." She blushed as I kissed her forehead, smacking my arm. "You can't just kiss me whenever you don't like what I'm saying?"

I grinned at her. "Oh?" I kissed her all over her face as she laughed and tried to escape, even planting a few on me herself. But she would just stop and laugh halfway through her revenge, her face scrunching around her eyes and her hair falling off her shoulders. "Are you still mad at me?" When she shook her head, I grabbed her hand and dragged her over to one of the cars I was working on. "So this is for regular travel or if we're trying to look inconspicuous. I found most of the parts in the junkyard but a couple of them I made myself or stole from vehicles used by gangs."

Jasmine looked like she was an overloaded processor, or had one at least. And then she punched me, hard. "You didn't show me this before? YOU BUILD CARS?" She ran over to the workbench and switched shirts faster than he could process or even look away, wearing one of his over sized t shirts that he worse when he didn't want to show after working. "I don't know why you have shirts but I'm stealing them. All of them." She used one of Mikey's skateboards to go under the car and look at it, oohing and awing. "Wow, you really did use a bunch of junk."

I growled at her as I tried to grab her legs to drag her out from under the car, but she kicked at me. "Hey, don't screw around with this one! I haven't shown you everything yet!" She finally let me drag her out, laughing at my expression. "Do you want to see the...?" She was already gone and looking at everything. There was quite literally nothing she wasn't touching, the vehicles, the tools, my planes, the scraps, the lights, the underside of the car, the seats, the locks...if she could reach it it went underneath her fingers. "That sparks...I'm not finished with that...That's not where that...Jasmine! Come on just sit still for a second and..." I lunged at her before she could turn on one of my radios but suddenly a blast of noise escaped before I could turn it off and glare at her. Of course she was off to the next thing, her eyes lit up in wonder and her body relaxed for the first time since he'd met her. "Just...don't let anyone know you're here." It was a weak protest and I knew it, but I had given up on trying to show her around.

"Sure...sure. No noise. Quiet as a mouse...squeak squeak." She smiled at me cheekily when I groaned. **(An: My dad and my uncles actually did this as kids because my grandma uses animal phrases. "Hop like a bunny" and "quiet as a mouse" and "stomping like stampeding elephants".)**

"You told me to be like a mouse. Mice squeak." This girl was going to be the death of me and she was enjoying every second of it, finding the tragedy of his death funny.  
I rolled my eyes at her as she acted like a child, instead focusing on a small project as she looked around. After about ten, fifteen minutes maybe, I washed my hands and face clear of grease or any other evidence that would point to me not going on my solo patrol ike I had told Mikey and Master Splinter. "Hey Jasmine, we have to go." I got a groan in response, something that she always did when I tried to get her to go home. "I know you don't want to but you have to. And my family can't..." She groaned again and this time I realized it wasn't because she didn't want to leave. "Jasmine?!" I found her lying with her arm underneath her and her legs at a weird, but not broken, angle. At the very most she was uncomfortable. "Oh shit, why didn't you...? Why didn't I...?"

""M...fine. 'Ust a'itle tired." She coughed as she tried to move to a better position. She was burning up and her lips were chapped, her eyes half closed. "'Aybe no', 'on't feel so good." It took more effort on her part than he wanted, but he finally got her in his arms and out the door into the cold.

It was race back to where she lived, getting her curled up in her nest and getting her enough water to give her the strength to call to her sisters for help. "I am so sorry. I'll check on you whenever I can but I can't fix this until I know what it is."

Jasmine simply smiled weakly. "Go. 'll be her' whe' you ge' bac'." She didn't close her eyes, like she promised she wouldn't and instead watched me leave. I could see her explain to her sisters what was going on and how she probably got it since she started feeling bad after getting captured by the Foot. I couldn't really see the other figures since they were staying away from her incase it was contagious, but I saw their shadows. It was going to be a long few days.

 **AN 3: Hey Y'all, I'm really excited about this chapter and I know it sucks that she's sick. But I kind of wrote it in elsewhere so I needed a way to show it. Anyway, DONNIE AND HER WERE SO CUTE I HAD TO PAUSE TO FANGIRL ABOUT MY OWN WRITING! Like I usually hate my writing, no matter what y'all say, but there are a few scenes that I love and this chapter had a few.**


	5. Overwhelmingly Sewer, a Hint of Bonsai

**Disclaimer: I only own Angel, Char and the plot. Nothing else, no matter how cool it would be.**

 **AN: I have no idea what I'm going to write for this yet because I haven't posted anything but we'll see how this goes.**

 _Angel's POV_

Jasmine might have been a literal snake and a complete bitch, but she was part of the closest thing I had to family now. And she was sick because of those stupid, sick little shits that called themselves the Foot Clan. They had tried going after the vigilantes with a reptilian disease, completely treatable by regular vets so none of the normal ones would be affected and cause suspicion. But it got to Jasmine and the worse part...Antoinette had contacts that said the turtles were so hidden that the disease didn't even reach them, they didn't even know. So we got angry. So very, very angry.

"I know you're a constrictor but I need some saliva or venom or something to bring to my Vet contact since he can't see you." Antoin was trying to get her to uncurl from her position in her nest, unfazed by the glares being sent her way. She was the only one who could get close because of her tough skin and Jasmine's natural fear of her. They might not usually met in the wild, but snakes know what eats them. And Antoin was definitely a predator. "Unless you want to try biting me, I suggest morphing back so I can get some of your loser scales."

You see, we all had different things happen to us when me morphed. It was less painful for me and I required lots of food afterwards like I was going into hibernation, usually needing a long nap when the adrenaline stopped. Jasmine shed suddenly, kind of all at once, until she was in human form. That left a relatively normal layer of shedded scales. But it was gross to watch.

"Antionette is with her vet friend trying to figure out what exactly is going on with her, Jasmine is curled up in her nest hoping that being human will slow down whatever's going through her since she's bigger than she was as a snake. Also she was running hotter so it might kill off whatever's inside her that way too." Char shivered from our places on the fire escape, bouncing a little with her hands in her sweatshirt pockets. She was always cold, both because of her lion traits and the fact that she was from out of state. All we got was it was always warm so we just assumed either Florida, Texas, Arizona or out of country. Because she was always cold, right now she was bundled up tighter than Jas could squeeze. Leggings underneath her sweatpants, a long sleeve shirt and the heaviest sweatshirt she could find. Of course it was mine, but apparently Pride's tend to share.

I rolled my eyes at her and almost laughed at our difference in attire. I was in workout clothes and a light sweatshirt and a hat that kept my ears covered. I froze as something hit me, it smelled like tea, blood and metal. Every instinct in my body said to run but I just signed to her that they were coming.

Char nodded as she huffed in annoyance, white puffs floating away from her into the sky. She was ever the patient hunter when she could _see_ her target. She would watch for hours if she needed to and if things had turned out differently, she might have made a really good spy or police officer. But when she doesn't know where they are, how far away, what they look like, just that they're _there_ is hard for her. She doesn't like the not knowing of it.

I shivered as a breeze hit, annoyed that we couldn't talk. Like, it was a mutual decision but we were both regretting it. Sitting in silence with our limited sign language was the single most boring this I had ever had to sit through, and I listened to my teacher talk about peice of art for an hour and a half. _One piece of art_ for _an hour and a half._ You can not ask someone like me to sit through that.

Charlotte suddenly relaxing into a lazy sort of position, smirking into the darkness. She didn't even have to sign that they were close, almost on our doorstep. She morphed a little, letting her tail swish behind her as she flattened herself into the cool metal. The Foot had arrived.

They were either new recruits or on hand because they needed bulk, because they were not like any foot soldiers they'd seen. They were always silent when they walked, with back's straight and eyes facing forwards. Their bodies were lanky and strong, built for stealth. These guys, they were like me with bulk muscle. They walked with confidence instead of purpose and let their eyes drift. And the Foot tried to _refrain_ from traveling on the ground, mostly rooftops and vehicles.

"Let's just get some civies and start pounding them until those freaks show up to save them. Get me some adrenaline flowing an' some screams." Oh, they wanted pounding? They wanted screams? How about theirs. I was so done with the Purple Dragons, the Foot and everyone else.

Before Char could stop me, I was strutting out of the alley and heading towards them. "You boys look a little lost, I would scidattle if I was you." I smirked at them as I pretended to chew gum. "Or, you can stick around and see the show. It seems everyone else was scared off." I glanced back to find Char watching in the shadows, while the guys charged. "Big mistake boys..." I threw up my hood and watched them come, grinning wildly. "Never charge a bear."

They came at me one at a time like they were in a conga line of fists. I thought it was funny, till suddenly my fist connected with nothing. The guy was two feet away, spread out like he was trying to make a snow angel. "Uh...what the...?"

I growled lowly as I looked around for where the smell was coming from, the smallest _WTF_ crossing my mind as I processed that he smelled like pizza, sweat and metal. "Who are you?" My voice was lower with my anger, my ears twitching underneath my hood. "If you want to fight, I fight fair." I spun to find a hulking mass of turtle glaring down at me.

He swung sloppily and took down the guy behind me who had a knife inches from me. "You're welcome, princess." He was masked by the shadows but I could see his hulking figure and the outline of his shell.

"Don't call me princess you knight in shining armor wanna-be jerk!" He looked surprised at my anger, even more surprised when I whirled around and backhanded the guy who was trying to get up. "You stay down...perv." I turned to him with a glare, so tired of people thinking I couldn't defend myself or my family or anyone else. I had strength now, I had some training and I had a whole lot of anger. He was screwed if he thought I was some damsel for him to sweep off her feet. "You might save people...vigilante, but I don't need saving! I can take care of myself and when I need help, I got backup!"

Char appeared suddenly, her eyes wide in the shadows of her hood. Her tail was completely still behind her now, tensing with the rest of her body."And apparently they do too, ninjas on the roof and down the street in trucks. Fight or flight?" We were grinning at each other now, fully aware that the only one that said flight wasn't here. We never backed down from a fight, not when they attacked first and certainly not when it was them. She paused when she saw the "hulk" that "saved" me, a confused expression passing over her features before she turned to face the crowd that had surrounded us while we _chatted_..."Come on, I really want to tear someone apart right now." The shadow seemed to flinch away from her.

I laughed at them, relishing in the adrenaline rushing through me. As they drew closer, I let loose a roar that made some of them pause before continuing their silent movements. I thundered forward with no intention of showing mercy, I needed them to pay for every scream, every scar, every change to my body that they made and everything they did to my sisters. Fists flew and open palms slammed bodies into the ground, pain breaking the silence as they broke bones and bruised muscles. At one point three more of the hulking figures dropped down to join us, but the fight was over quickly even with their numbers. They were no match for six mutants, four of which clearly heavily trained. We were left panting and tired as the ones able to run retreated with their limp comrades in tow. With a chance to breathe, we suddenly turned to glare at the four turtles in front of us now. "Thank you so much for the assist, I really thought we were going to lose for a second."

The smallest one grinned at my sarcasm, seemingly unfazed by our glares and growls. "Didn't know there were other people looking to kick some Foot Ninja butt!" He held up his hand for a high five, whining as I grabbed it and bent his wrist. "Dude!"

"You are the reason my sister is dying and you want a hiGH FIVE?" I let go of him as Char grabbed my shoulder. "The Foot wanted to weaken you so they spread a disease, a _reptilian_ disease. But look who's completely healthy!" My anger was getting worse, my voice more a growl than anything.

The tallest one took a step back and seemed to be figuring something out, while the biggest one looked ready to tear into me for touching him. Charlotte got between us and shoved us both away. "Would we have been able to defeat the Foot without them? No. So maybe fighting each other isn't _the_ best course of action." She wrapped an arm around me using the two inches she had on me, ruffling my hair. "So stop it with your growling bullshit."

I huffed at her before finally releasing the tension building in my body. There was a reason _mama bear_ is a phrase, we tend to swipe first and ignore everything else when our family is in trouble. Because I didn't have cubs, that extended to my sisters. "Whatever."

Charlotte quickly realized she was going to be the one doing all the talking and got their attention by clearing her throat. "Okay then, so now that that's over with...Thanks for your help but we'll just be going then...unless you have a reason for us to stay out in the open like this?" She had her head tilted and her eyes narrowed slightly even if they couldn't be seen underneath the shadow of her hood.

When the blue masked one waved his hand at us, we both tensed from the feeling of anger boiling inside of us from being dismissed like that. "We have to disappear too, mutants don't tend to fare well in the light very long, do they?"

"No, they don't." Charlotte plucked the small device off her jacket and crushed it, ruffling out her hair as well to get the one on her scalp. "I don't know how you managed to do it, but I noticed. And I would suggest a truce of _never_ coming into contact again. That includes tracking devices and other ways of keeping an eye on us. If the shadows are big enough for the four of you, they work for us." She smirked as she slipped her hand into mine and started walking away.

A quick warning from one of the guys made us pause for a second, glad that they at least had the decency to admit to it. "One of the trackers wasn't ours. Be careful." We just nodded to show our thanks, disappearing from their view.

I glared at her as I pulled my hand out of hers. "The shadows are big enough for the both of us? Really?" I shook my head at her before glancing upwards to see the boys jumping from rooftop to rooftop above our heads. I took a deep breath, freezing in place suddenly. I knew that scent, I _knew_ that scent. The first one was overwhelmingly the sewers which didn't really surprise me. But underneath that was sweat from the fight, a weird pizza smell which didn't make sense, soil and... _Bonsai._

How could I have not noticed it before? The smell, his size, the three brothers and their personalities...HIS VOICE? Oh, he was so dead when I saw him next and there was nothing he could do to stop me. HE WAS HIDING IN THE DARK BECAUSE HE WAS A MUTANT? And him describing what he looked like, that little shit. "My eyes are bluish green..." YOU FORGOT TO MENTION THAT YOUR SKIN WAS ALMOST COMPLETELY GREEN TOO! Charlotte let me seethe until we got back, probably thinking that I was still thinking about the turtles. _No sister dear, just one._

 _Leo's POV_

Why did she look familiar? I sat on my floor by my bed, leaning against the side of it as I finished sharpening one of my swords. It was helping me concentrate on the girls we'd met that day during a battle with the Foot. Clearly they were interested in the two of them or they wouldn't have put trackers on the second one. He was just glad they found it before it ended up with another rescue mission being needed.

"Do you remember when Dad first taught you how to do that and you cut your hand open?" Raph leaned on the wall separating our rooms with a smirk. "You refused to tell us that's what happened so you said it was just a new wrapping for our hands. But you never were the best at keeping secrets..." _What was he getting at?_ "So. What's got you concentrating on the floor of your room instead of practicing your sets to show off?"

I kicked his foot with a glare to tell him to lay off, but all he did was sit on my bed and wait. "The smaller one? That hurt Mikey?" I was kind of pissed about that but it was understandable if her sister was hurt because of us. Still didn't make it okay, but I wasn't going to go all ninja on her and try to kill her.

Raph snorted. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure she was _not_ the smaller one." He looked at me weird when I continued to glare at him, not understanding why I was standing up for her. "What? Me and Donnie ain't built the same either but you don't see him telling me I'm fat."

I laughed as I heard him yell, "Only because you'd get mad and we'd end up sparing, waste of my time!" I loved my brothers, but sometimes it was nice to see them relax and be like when we were kids again. "Anyway, she was familiar somehow. Maybe we rescued her or she was on the force before she was mutated? Or was she a Foot soldier that we've fought against before and this was all planned? Don't you think they gave up a little too easily?"

"Leo, we kicked their butts so far into the future they watched the end of the world. Of course they gave up easy, they're learning not to mess with us. Especially if they were just new recruits or they're tiring out their resources." He shrugged like he wasn't knowing helping me sort out my thoughts. Feelings and helping someone without reward isn't really his thing, or mine for that matter, more Mikey's style. "Do you think she's dangerous?"

For some reason I smiled when I answered him. "Very." I leaned over him to hang up my sword, shoving him off my bed. "But that doesn't mean she's an enemy, does it? I mean, April is dangerous to us because she's a famous reporter now and could quite literally destroy us if she wanted to. But she doesn't."

"Don't let Mikey hear you're making fun of his girlfriend, he might just get _more_ annoying." Raph punched my shoulder as he left, probably going to find his punching bag or whatever Mikey was cooking. Of course he would never admit to liking it more than Pizza, I'd caught Raph quite literally drooling over our youngest brother's cooking before.

I rolled my eyes as I leaned back on my bed and looked up at the ceiling. "Whatever." But whenever I closed my eyes all I could see was the figure with the weird bumps in her hood. Most of the time it was normal, trying to figure out who she was. But once my brain came up with the idea of her arm wresting Raph and me at the same time. And winning against both of us.

 **An: So I wrote this before I finished the third and fourth chapters so that's why the AN is there. Now I've said my stress and anxiety is getting better but it's really just easing up a little when I'm in public and then crashing down around me at some points. My great uncle has days, my friends rapist just came into the store I work at, my friend lied to me about the reason she couldn't hang out...again, this was us rescheduling and my dad's family got a dinner reservation for us at a** **restaurant** **an hour away, half an hour after my shift is supposed to end. So I have to leave work early. Life is shitty and all the favorites, reviews and follows help. No pressure or anything but it does make me smile.**


	6. Stolen Goods

**Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT or any of the characters originally associated with it, I only own the girls and the plot (oh and Marcus but I don't like him)**

 _Antoinette's POV_

You know, getting captured by the foot is a lot harder than you think. Oh, that's probably not what I should start with but if it's all the same to you I think I'll just tell you what happened. You see, I tend to get what I want without _actually_ getting it. Like a careful what you wish for thing? Yeah.

"Get out of my face! I'm not some child or cub you need to look out for, I'm fine on my own. Oh, and you of all people should know about instinct, I'm fucking nocturnal! I hate the daytime!" I stretched out my hands to extend my claws, growling lowly in my throat. I hated when Charlotte acted like we were all still normal and could have normal things. Currently she was trying to get us to take online classes and get on normal sleeping schedules.

Charlotte's eyes flashed darkly like a male being challenged. "I got elected leader for some fucked up reason but I'm still leader. So put on your big girl pants and grow up. You were human once, act like it! You had a sense of right and wrong once too, I wonder where that went." She went down on all fours, her bones quickly snapping and reforming to complete the large female lion walking away from me with it's head held high and a glare in it's eyes.

I snarled at her retreating back before heading to my room, deep in the basement. I slammed the door shut, turning the locks as I stared at the world around me. "Mikey..." I curled up into myself as I stared in wonder at all his drawings. There was one of me from his eyes, a quick sketch of the silhouette he had seen on the ground. A bird's eye view with my head tilted up to look at him, my hoodie covering everything by my razor tooth grin which almost looked normal the way he did it. I smiled faintly at it, pouting jokingly as I looked at the one he drew of my face with the rim of my glasses shining in the low light. He teased me for them, but eventually said they were cute. It felt weird being this close with someone I had barely knew for three weeks, but I was loving it. I'd seen him about four times now and each one was perfect. I think he was more excited than me at some points. I knew it wasn't one of the days he told me he'd be there but...

I changed quickly into some spandex, sweatpants to protect me from the coming cold of winter, a thin long sleeve and a jacket. On second thought, I grabbed the bracelet he'd made me out of old string and cool rocks he'd found. I smiled to myself as I threw my hood up, grabbing my sneakers as I went. I easily snuck by a passed out Charlotte (you know lions only wake to hunt) and the other two girls training. They liked to fight each other since they were the strongest out of all of us. Jasmine was all constrictor and could kill someone if she got any of her limbs around you. Angel's punch held the force of an actual bear. Like, she could crush your skull with one punch. Grown bears can kill moose with one swipe, so it's not that surprising considering her DNA change.

It was a quick exit, getting me past the hoard and onto the rooftops in minutes, laughing as I charged across the New York skyline. It felt normal and easy now to leap between buildings. At first it was weird and I was unsure but thought it was a thrill...But now it was easy and perfect. I'd always had the muscle but now I knew what to do. I barely had to figure out my path anymore as I headed to the shed, glancing in to see if he was there. Nothing. _Well, let's see if he put up any new stuff._ He's been letting me take anything I wanted, stuttering when he saw the walls almost bare by the time we met again. He complained that he couldn't keep up, but I knew he secretly loved having some to worship his drawings like that since he clearly didn't get any love for them from his brothers.

"Oh, Mikey..." I sighed as I curled up in the corner, smiling at the lights. That was until I heard the shouts and alarms blaring. "Shit." I slipped off my jacket and shoes, knowing they would get get destroyed if I tried fighting. After a second of thought, I took off my warm sweatpants too, leaving me in the spandex and tank top. Only tight clothes morphed with us, they worked best if they were black since that was usually the color of our skin under our fur. I made my way down to the street, scanning the area for the oncoming offenders and tensing in anticipation of a fight. They had to at least be a mile away, coming towards me in a car from the sound of it. For once, I was thankful for my Badger hearing.

They came barrelling down the street in a large van, laughing as they listened to the sirens blaring behind them. _Stupid._ It was as if they were asking to be caught. As they passed, I jumped onto the back of their truck, ducking down as one of them glanced to check to see what all the noise was. _Only one of you noticed? Really? Who the fuck_ are _you?_ They went back to swerving through the streets or at least did it without care. I mean, really. Who doesn't have the fucking common sense not to go through the streets like a maniac when you just robbed a place? You'll get pulled over for your stupid driving, and then get arrested on sight. _Stupid._

They wove through the streets like they owned them and I couldn't wait for them to pull over into some beat up apartment building so I could unleash hell on them. But oh how stupid _I_ was for not taking enough time to look at them. Because if I had, I would have noticed the dragon tattoos on their bodies or the rings that they wore to signal that they were Foot allies. Oh no, I should have taken more care to notice them because then I would have noticed _what_ they got when they robbed the place. I would have noticed the blood samples labeled _property of the Bronx Zoo_ and I would have known not to do the stupidest thing I could have ever done. Morph. But oh well.

You see, I finally recognized the hideout. I understood where they were going and who they were, they were Purple Dragons. Allies to the Foot in the war against the world and the strange heroes (or vigilantes, whatever you want to call them) that always just seemed to disappear after saving whoever was being tormented. Normal New York City stuff, since we're the ones who always get attacked by gangs like Foot who get defeated and so then decided it's a good idea for them to go and partner up with freaking _aliens_. And the Purple Dragons, but they're a normal gang that could be found in any old city. Mostly.

"Welcome to the arena boys, let's see the new recruits!" They unloaded quickly while I hid under the truck, shaking my head at how stupid they were. "I want to see which one gets mauled this time. I hope it's one of the girls so I can show my _sensitive_ side as I patch them up..." Clearly the medic and a dick. Great, I was going to have to listen to their stupid commentary as we fought! Better in here than in the actual building.

As I crawled out from under the truck, I had the strangest feeling of being watched. _Shit_. "Look boys, we caught us a honey." I whirled around to find the one person I didn't want to see grinning down at me. My older cousin, Marcus. Of course he clawed his way into the purple dragons with his grubby little hands, kissing asses and sucking up to (or just sucking) dicks to get as high in the ranks as he could. Just because. "I think we should get this _honey_ to fight, don't you?"

Marcus rivaled Angel in mass. He was a giant in size, lanky but muscular. His jaw was set and his eyes were dark, gleaming in the light. He was the monster lurking in the shadows of the night, the one that loved to stalk into the light so that the shine could catch the fangs, the claws, the dark fur. He was my own personal monster, loving to drag me underneath the water slowly as the air fought it's way out of my lungs and the water crashed against my chest. He was the reason I was the way he was, he watched everyday as they poked, prodded, ripped and experimented. He reveled in it, sneering if they gave me time to recover before relaxing as they explain that if they didn't it would kill me. Because where was the fun in that? Like now, as he patiently watched my claws flex and my head twitch. "You know, Honey is only a name."

I knew how I looked to them, a simple girl with no chance. You see, I know I don't, and actually can't, intimidate through appearance. I'm small, with a blonde pixie cut and a 'beautiful' pair of dark eyes covered by dark rimmed glasses. No, I don't use that. My intimidation is in my fighting, which I was itching to give them a taste of. But of course it was lights out for me, since I was so focused on him I didn't see the guy with the syringe

"We have a new competitor today! She may be small but she is fierce. Avoid the claws, the teeth and oh yeah. The glasses." Everyone laughed, booming sounds around me as blurry images danced through my vision. _My glasses, they took my glasses._ I was blind, in a situation I didn't understand and the noise splitting the air into pieces. The world was a wall of noise with the smell of sweat and blood drenching me and my eyes being beaten into my skull.

Suddenly one of the blurry images was coming towards me and I was swiping at it blindly, trying to find the footsteps over the roar of the crowd or their smell in the mesh of bodies and blood. There was a sharp pain in my lower back as they tried a jab at my kidneys, but thankfully missed due to what I assumed was inexperience. I barely had enough time to yelp as a backhand slap knocked me to my knees, tears threatening to spill over and fog up my vision even more.

"What? You aren't going to fight back little Hufflepuff?" The voice barely got through to me before a primal scream cut through the noise till it was smoothed into oblivion. My opponent stepped back, startled. It was my turn to revel in their fatal mistake, standing to my full height and extending my claws fully so I could feel the cold radiating off them. I could hear the teenager, the creaks in the boards and the new ink smell radiating off of their body. And oh, it was so sweet.

I lunged without thinking, primal instinct taking over as I mercilessly swung and snarled. I could feel blood dripping down onto my hands as my claws raised in the air. I could smell the iron, not enough for a kill yet. No, not enough. So I backed away, claws shaking wildly to avoid anyone coming too close as well as to get the sticky blood still between my fingers to fly off. I could feel the chain behind me with hands pressing into it from the other side, biting breaths and alcohol. I whirled on them, panting as I swung and sliced, not caring if it was fence or flesh as I finally broke free, charging through the masses and using my size as an advantage. I could make it, I could...

Strong arms scooped me up, crushing me in their grip. _No, no, no_. I had to get out, I needed something no one wanted to hold on to, I needed... _to be an animal._ And all sense went out the window as my bones broke on their own in his hands and as my skin broke across my body as fur erupted to cover the mess of blood beneath.

 _Leo's POV_

The Purple Dragons have always been a pain in my ass to deal with, as they don't follow the Foot but they're allies and they have certain things they won't do but if you pay them enough...They don't make sense as a unit. But the one thing that did make sense was when a veterinary clinic get's robbed at gunpoint by guys in ski masks and muscle shirts, it was probably them doing a job for their " _overlords"_ as Mikey likes to call them. And when they do a job like this it isn't hard to track them from their original position since they don't tend to blend in after they do something right, which wasn't very often.

"Dudes, do you smell that?" Turtles actually do have a great sense of smell, something that usually either warns of predators or gets really annoying when we know that April is going to have her, ah, _woman_ week. It was really uncomfortable the first time because we'd never been around a female this long so we didn't know what it was...Yeah, she was the one to figure it out. "Predator. Blood."

Of course that meant a lot of things but considering this veterinary clinic worked for the zoo, it was a definite sign that they were close. Suddenly we were swerving into an alley, blocking in what looked like a hidden trade off. There was even a live animal in the car, a honey badger to be exact. It was growling and clawing at the cage, trying to get the lock like it knew how to get free. "You won't have those claws for long, Ant. Love um' while you ca..." And that was when they noticed that they weren't alone, but we were already out of sight. "Get moving, I bet it's those turtle freaks."

"You have something of ours though." Mikey whispered from behind him before moving out of the way, slipping over by the exit again. "It's not nice to play with toys that aren't yours." Since when was Mikey stealthy? And why was he being so creepy? The bad guys started grouping together slowly, like they were getting nervous. _Okay, that worked but how did he...?_ He dropped down in front of them, standing to his full height. "Boo." He used his nunchucks to knock two of their heads together, leaving one for each of us.

Raph decided that was the perfect time to charge in and start using his fists against the biggest guy, growling lowly and letting the white eyelids we usually use for swimming come down to make him even more terrifying. It was a fun little trick we learned from April, we didn't even know we had them till she decided to look up what kind of turtle we were.

I would have tried to give an order, but I was already occupied with one of them. I drew my swords quickly, using the flats of my blades to trip them up and inflict small cuts. It was going well, until Mikey was smashed into the wall and the force of his head hitting the wall let out a large crack. I don't think I've seen them go from smug to terrified so quickly. They should have learned by now that no one messes with our baby brother without facing the full rage of three well trained, armed, 800 pound ninja turtles. I don't think I've seen someone limp away that fast, either.

"Raph, check the truck for the samples. Donnie, check on Mikey." I stepped forward as I looked at the animal in the cage tilting my head. I smirked when it seemed to do the same, studying me as I was it. "Why did they take you, uh? You part of some experiment?" I bent down so I could get a closer look, calmer than I thought I'd be considering how savage the animal seemed at first. Now it was just relaxing in it's cage, looking at me without fear or anger. I got the strangest feeling to let it free, right here and now even though it probably belonged at the zoo. Maybe it was calm because it was sick?

Mikey was suddenly next to me, his beak twitching. "Let her out, she smells familiar. I don't know why." I hesitantly did as he asked, even to Donnie's strong protests, but the animal didn't suddenly attack or stay in it's cage. It walked out calmly, stretching as it jumped out of the truck and onto the street. We were lucky it was nighttime and our vehicles were blocking us, no one would see what was about to happen.

The badger growled slightly as a popping sound rang through the air and a crack quickly followed it. We backed away as soon as we realized it was coming from the creature, like every bone in it's body was breaking and reforming. It howled in pain as it's claws stretched out, slowly becoming fingers with sharp nails. There was a series of popping noises as it's back elongated, the fur receding into it's head till there was only some thin fabric and bare skin left. The girl stretched again, grinning with razor sharp teeth. She was skinny, tan and small. Her hair was a blonde pixie cut which made her weird eyes stand out more. "Thanks for the help boys, it was really cramped in there." She was _only_ wearing tight pants and a tank top, making all of us very uncomfortable. She almost turned to leave before her nose twitched and she suddenly got really close to our youngest. "Mikey?"

"I knew it!" He scooped her up into a hug as they both laughed before he put her down to look at her, gobsmacked. "YOU WEREN'T KIDDING ABOUT BEING A MUTANT?" He pouted like he couldn't believe she would do this to him.

She blushed darkly as she reflexively tried to sweep her hair behind her ear, but it wasn't there. "Yeah, while it's not like you told me either! How did you keep the fact that you're a _turtle_ a secret? I'm proud of you Mr. Angel, very impressed." When she noticed Mikey's embarrassed expression, she lit up. "I'm sorry, I meant Mr. Michel _angel_ o." She dodged as he went to shush her, laughing. "Okay, okay. Now that I've introduced _you,_ I think it's your turn."

Mikey groaned as he turned to meet my blank expression, whereas Raph and Donnie looked like they were trying to choose between laughing and being angry at him for this. "Guys, maybe we should take this somewhere else..." He grinned as the girl quickly climbed the fire escape and raised an eyebrow at us from above. "Of course, she just had to take the high road."

Raph snorted next to me, climbing up first with Mikey quickly following. "At least he's not the only one..." And my mind immediately flashed to Charlotte and all my lectures died on my tongue. Maybe that's why she likes the dark too, she could be like her. _If I was that lucky that is..._ "So. I want to hear all about how you became like this, how you can change and whatever else we need to know since you know about our existence now."

"My name is Antoinette and I got sold, literally sold, to the Foot by my cousin who is in the high ranks of the Purple Dragons. He wanted an in with the Foot and I was it." Antoinette shrugged, like this was simple and usual, totally not horrifying and cruel. "I got sent through trails to find a way to mutate someone in a way that they could morph, go from animal to a human type form. Best weapon design, if it worked. As far as I'm aware, I'm one of four that survived out of...fifty maybe?" She ran a hand through her hair, spiking what little of it was left. "They wanted to test all kinds of animals and they got it. The only ones that survived were predators, creatures with fight literally in their DNA."

Mikey wasn't touching her but he was behind her for support, till she suddenly leaned back onto his chest and he reflexively wrapped his arms around her. I don't think either of them noticed what they were doing, it was just so common for them to touch. _This is either going to be a good alliance or blow up in his face and hurt him._ "She was walking alone and terrified everyone around her, so she looked up and saw me. She ended up running with me during patrol and she beat me..." He grinned down at her. "So we became friends."

She blushed before looking us all over again. "Oh, I see it now!" She spun around and smacked his arm, glaring playfully. "I thought I was talking to an ex gang member whose 'brothers' were his crew, not an actual family. You asshole." She sighed dramatically as he ruffled her hair, moving under his arm. "I'm guessing red is Raph since he's the brooding, snarky one. Totally way to protective of you." I hid my grin as Raph sputtered, probably not expecting that. "Donnie is the one with the purple mask, since he's been using his glasses to try and find me on the internet. I don't have gadgets, but I do have these..." She pulled out a pair of small glasses that she slipped over her eyes, for some reason looking smug. "Woah, y'all are thicker than I thought. Anyway, you won't find anything but the car crash on there." She then turned to me and squinted. "That leaves you, Leo. You've been silently watching, holding judgement and trying to figure out if I'm going to hurt him or not." She looked me in the eyes, tilting her head. "I may be an ex gang member but the only thing I break are Foot Soldiers."

"And school records." Donnie spoke up, sound slightly in awe but was trying to smother it. "When you were in highschool, you ran the fastest time for cross country, track and apparently was the first girl to play tackle football." He looked at her for confirmation, surprised to find her blushing darkly. "What?"

Antionette hid her face in Mikey's side for a second, groaning as he laughed at her. "You had to bring that up?" She refused to look at anyone when he whispered to her. "I know, that's why I hate that!" She hid her face with her hands as she muttered something before Mikey poked her and got her to say it. "They actually mistook me for my twin brother, they only figured it out when I took my helmet off after our first game. As Donnie now probably knows, I looked different back then."

"You were taller with darker hair, the photo is black and white so it's kind of weird." He shrugged before turning to me, showing he had found more than he let on. "I have no questions for her." He knew enough already, waiting for me to make the final judgment.

Mikey noticed the time and nudged her, sighing like he didn't want her to go but knew she should. "You have to go, right? You said they'll be waiting for you and since they don't know about me..." He grinned as she shook her head forcefully, faking hurt. "What? I'm still a secret for you? I feel so used." He sighed dramatically as she hugged him goodbye, burying his face in her neck for a second. "I still can't believe you're a mutant."

Antionette rolled her eyes, grinning to show off her canines. "I might not be a turtle, but I don't look human anymore. Do you see my face? My eyes, my teeth and my nails?" She stretched out her fingers, cracking them as dark claws expanded from them. "Not human looking, at all." She grinned at him before realizing what he just reminded her of, cursing before shooting me an apologetic look. "Oh yeah, I do got to go though. See you tomorrow night?" She gave him a very specific look as she started backing away towards the edge of the roof. "And I might just keep the outfit." She disappeared into the shadows faster than I could blink, but her giggles still rang in the air.


	7. Craziest in New York

**this story's characters, Charlotte, Jasmine, Antoinette and Angel. Maybe a few minor characters here and there but they aren't really important in this chapter.**

 **AN: SO MANY REVIEWS! Thank you Megmoo for your input and I actually cried when I saw your comments? So this chapter is for you (I wasn't going to post so soon but I'm really happy so yeah)**

 _Char's POV_

I moved to our spot on the rooftop as my heart pounded in my chest, my legs collapsing beneath me as I curled up against my side. _How could I have been so stupid? I let her get past me, I let her get captured by them...She had to be rescued, RESCUED! BY SOMEONE ELSE! I can't..._ I wiped away my tears furiously, trying to get rid of the sinking feeling in my stomach as I heard him slid into his spot. "I'm late and yet I got here first, what does that say about me and you?"

Raph growled lowly next to me, a deep ricocheting sound. "I'm tired and yet I can still tell you were just crying, what does that say about _us_?" He moved for a second, so his hand was just barely on the edge of his shadow. "What happened?"

I hovered my hand over his, but he didn't pull away so I dropped it so our palms were flat against each other. "My sister got hurt and it was my fault." I could hear the sharp intake of his breath, feel the tensing in his hand. "I am supposed to be the one who does irrational shit and acts out, even if I'm older. I screw up but I can get out of it! She couldn't and I couldn't do anything!" I couldn't tell what he was thinking, but I was suddenly tugged into a lap with my face pressed into his neck. "I thought..."

"You are a sobbing, angry mess and you expect me to care about that fact. You seem to forget that I am irrational and stupid, so right now I don't..." He was cut off by the kiss I pressed to his cheek, making the cool skin there heat up. "What...?"

I let my hands remain in my lap. "We are both irrational idiots, I will not lie about that. But you _are not_ stupid. Not by a long shot." When he went to protest, I crossed my arms. "Uh uh, you shut up. Stupid means you got no brain cells in that head of yours. Idiot means sometimes you don't listen to them, but you still got them. You understand now?"

Raph gave a deep laugh that almost made me fall off of him, leaning back. "I see you feel better." _Oh that manipulative..._ Even in the dark I could see his cheeky grin, making my heart stop. "Are you going to tell me what happened with your sister?"

"Anti, the little idiot, got herself captured by the Foot. She was looking for a fight since we baby her all the time, she's so tiny I can touch my pinky to my thumb if I wrap my hand around her forearm, so she followed these guys to a warehouse and one of them saw her. She would have been fine but the guy was her blood and distracted her while another one got the jump on her. She woke up in an arena without her glasses so she was basically blind and there were so many people that none of her senses would work either. She was so scared when she told us about it..." I tensed as I pictured the tears brimming in her eyes as she flexed her claws, wincing from the pain. I knew she was hiding something. "She barely got out of the arena but then they caught her again...I don't know how she got away, I was too busy fussing over her to ask."

Raph just sat there listening to me sob, tracing my scars with his thumb. I could feel the edge of his pointer finger on my arm, but I didn't care to ask why he always avoided touching me with all his fingers. "Breathe with me. Four seconds in, seven out. Try to make them longer as you repeat."

I listened to him, screwing up because of my hiccuping a few times but eventually I could feel the tension easing out of my body. "Do you want me to get off your lap now?" I knew I sounded like a child, but I still smiled when his thumbs pressed down in my hips to let me know I could stay. "So, what have you been up to? I'm guessing I'm not the only one with stories."

Rah groaned, leaning his head on my shoulder. "My brother is an idiot. Mikey? He's apparently been sneaking around with a girl who has absolutely problems with swinging her hips as she walks away in only spandex and a tank top, telling him next time they meet she'd wear the same thing. I swear to whoever is up there that Mikey is going to die because of that girl. I mean, she sassed Leo and made puns so bad I think she broke us for a second." He leaned away again, but still smiled "Though I do have to say that she's tough like you and doesn't take bullshit. She's more like ex gang dangerous than getting herself in deep because of a stupid comment dangerous like Mikey. Of course they can both lie their way out of it, but still." He laughed beneath me, making me tumble off his lap. That just made him laugh harder.

I glared at him but his laugh must have been contagious because I was laughing too soon, leaning against his arm. "You sir, are an asshole." I don't think I recognized when I started to like him, as in having a crush on him, but as in the name, in all came crashing down full force as I relaxed with him. Of course I played off my sudden apprehension as being cold, thankful that my muscles tensed as well. "Geez, give me a second. I need a sweatshirt." I stood up, brushing off my jeans as I walked to the other side of the roof to grab my jacket. I was so stupid. I quickly slipped it on, suddenly blinking from the light. At first I thought it was because I'd been in the shadows too long but then just as his eyes shown in the darkness questioningly, I realized like a delay on feeling a punch to the gut. The moon was full tonight and there wasn't a cloud in sight. My hopes of him not seeing me crashed as his eyes widened.

I stood before him in all my mutant glory. From behind, I looked like a normal girl and how much I wished that was what he saw. Dark blonde curls that at the moment were throw up in a ponytail, my usual style. My skin was pale with the slightest hint of a tan that proved I did in fact go outside, _Jasmine_. But when I was facing him, he could clearly see I wasn't human. My eyes were like a cats, with what looked like black eyeliner surrounding yellow eyes with slits instead of pupils. I had freckles, like the ones a mom would draw on to give the illusion of whiskers on her four year old for Halloween. The only thing that wasn't natural, besides my lean muscle, was the rough callouses on my hands and feet, like the bottom of a cat's feet. It wasn't black, but it was definitely there. And I hated it with a burning passion. I hated that now he could work out what it was and that soon his expression would turn to disgust.

I didn't wait around for it so I turned and sprinted towards the edge of the roof, leaping easily to the edge of the other building. I brushed tears away with a practiced ease that made me want to scream into the night sky, but I couldn't. Because that would draw attention and I couldn't have that. "Stupid...Falling for a guy when you..."

I was cut off by the sound of pounding footsteps getting closer, maybe two buildings away. I glanced back to find a dark shape leaping between the rooftops, easily sliding from one shadow to the next with practiced ease. It was big, so not the Foot and definitely not the Purple Dragons since they wouldn't dare come here. It was someone, _something_ else. It was getting closer too.

I cursed under my breath as I started pushing myself to run faster, knowing full well I could get to fifty miles per hour if I wanted to but I wouldn't be able to hold it for long. Maybe let him get close enough to get a glimpse than speed away. For once I was happy with the low maximum running speed of humans and ecstatic about my 22 mile per hour advantage. "Eat my dust, bitch." He was on the same roof as me now, though he paused in confusion when I turned around and saluted him. I picked up the pace, almost out of hearing range in the time it took him to yell, "SHIT!"

I curled up in the shadow had occupied with Raph not two hours before. I was hoping I had lost him to the night and he wouldn't think to come look for me here. Maybe if I stayed here all night, I'd even see his face leaving the building to go see his family. Already having forgotten the mutant girl with the harsh eyes and a bad mouth. But I could never forget the boy who made me laugh, fought with me like it was fun and treated me like I was _human_. It wasn't a luxury I got often so I tended to cherish it as much as I could. "Stupid girl.." I wiped at my cheeks before realizing I didn't care. I let my hands fall to the ground as I stared ahead of me, the tears falling in thick droplets that blazed trails of fury down my cheeks and throat, building a strong pressure in my head as my throat closed around my breath. "Wenn du nur etwas wert warst..." The German slipped from my lips, causing me to freeze in surprise. _Since when do I know German, or recognize when something is German?_

Have you ever realized you've forgotten something? Like you get asked a question and you go to respond but you can't? That's what it was like for me as I tried to figure out when I learned German. I could remember every details of what happened after we escaped, that much was clear. There was some things I had blocked out from my time with the Foot, but for the most part I could still see all their faces and knew what day it was. But when I tried to go further back, when I tried to figure out when I'd been captured or how old I was when it happened. When I tried to picture my childhood home or the street I grew up on. When I tried to place the faces of my human friends and come up with the name of my old school because surely I had gone to school, right? I came up with nothing. I started to cry harder as I dragged myself till I was pressed as closely to the brick as possible and wrapped my arms around my knees. I couldn't even picture my parents, it was like I never had any. But I spoke German and English and I had long blonde curls that I loved and pale skin and I was tall and...and...and I didn't know if any of that was just because of the mutation like Anti's short hair or Angel's sudden size change. Maybe I was always like this, I could have been found by the Foot as a baby and grew up around their mind control. Maybe when I got older I figured out they were evil and tried to run away, maybe even fight so I got punished with this. Or did I volunteer? Did I even have anyone that loved me before this?

 _Now, you couldn't possibly be part of the Foot your whole life. You don't speak a lick of Japanese and you sucked at fighting after you got away, you had no idea what you were doing._ Of course the sensible part of my brain decided to speak up after I'd worked myself up into an anxiety attack, leaving me to spend the next ten minutes doing breathing exercises and trying to come up with a different explanation besides, _I was raised by the forces of evil and that's why I can't remember anything._ Of course that one was still in the back of my head, a nagging little shit that wouldn't shut up.

I froze in place as I heard the rocks on the roof scatter as someone moved on the opposite side, soft cursing passing through the air. "Of course I find one of the only mutant chicks in all of New York and I scare her away. She didn't even see me yet!" Raph. But why would I be scared of him? I barely had time to question it in my head as a ringing sound cut through the air. It cut off as quickly as it came, leaving Raph to growl in annoyance and snap at whoever was on the other end of the phone. " _What?"_ He paused, sighing and probably running a hand over his face. "Leo, calm down. What's going on? Breathe bro, you'll pass out soon if you don't." He waited for a response before the sharp intake of a breath told me his mood just took a turn for the worse again. "He _WHAT?_ He can't just invite her over without askin' Dad, it's like rule one! And yeah I know it's not actually so stop trying to correct me." He groaned for a second. "Let it go fearless, I have to go. Don't kill Mikey and tell Dad I'm bringing someone too. _Not_ Casey. I hope they don't kill each other." The last one sounded more like an afterthought as he quickly hung up so his twin couldn't protest. "Now where'd yeah go? I got places to go."

I didn't even have time to recover as I snorted, he was to my right in seconds. His large figure was hidden in the shadows, only his eyes peeking out as me. It was enough to make me jump a foot in the air (which I can actually do, thank you very much). "RAPH! You can't just sneak up on people like that, it makes it seem like you're going to kill them." It didn't even process in my brain that he _knew_ till the words were already spilling from my mouth like a waterfall, loud and crashing. I tensed after I remembered just who I was and stepped back.

"Just because I'm bigger than you doesn't mean I'm automatically going to eat you, Char. You're okay." His words were teasing but his tone was calm, promising he wasn't freaking out. "Besides, you should know mutants don't eat people so nothing to worry about there. Course, mutant on mutant attacks do seem to increase when I'm around..." He turned his attention back to me, stepping closer.

I growled lowly at him before realizing he was trying to come into the light, he wasn't stopping me from moving away from him. "Mutant on mutant?" I was ready to bolt but then I got caught up in what my eyes could suddenly make out. "Stop, please." As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I started to see the outline of his body. There was a lot of him but the thing that interested me the most was the rounded edge behind his back. "Can...?" I started noticing things I hadn't noticed before as he nodded, letting me move closer. Like how he wasn't wearing much clothing which for a second made me blush darkly, or how his hands looked different for some reason. I reached out to grab his fingers, tilting my head when I only found three. I felt for stumps, wondering if he'd lost them or was born with a defect. When I found none, I shifted our palms so I could feel the difference in the size of his fingers to mine. "Jeez, your hands are huge." All I got in return was a low rumble in his throat that I assumed was held back laughter. I traced my fingers up his arms feeling the rough skin and muscle there, till I hit something else where his pecks should have been. I raced it with the tips of my fingers, eyebrows scrunching. "What's this?" I didn't let him answer as I slowly moved around him to find out what the weird shaped thing on his back was. I pressed my hands against the cool surface. "Shell..." I backed away and moved to his front again. "Follow?" I had a hard time forming words beyond one or two as I gently pulled him into the open moonlight, pressing my fingers to my lips as I took him in.

His skin was a dark green color which was only covered by straps, knee and elbow pads, as well as the thing I couldn't name covering his chest. His face was covered by a red mask that wrapped around his closed eyes and trailed down to his huge shell. I could see the edges of the duct tape that was there, something that suddenly made my heart clench as I remembered that turtle's shells were connected to their spines. Meaning if his shell broke badly enough or in the right place, so would his back. "I know.."

I cut him off by placing my hands on his cheeks tentatively. "Don't say anything bad right now, just...Can you feel the padding on my hands? Like a cat's." When he opened his eyes asking a silent question, I continued. "And you can see my eyes, they aren't human. But I always have good eye liner, so that's a plus." He smiled shyly for a second and it was all I needed. "I'm about as human as you are, Raph. You don't scare me, you make me happy because it means _you_ aren't scared of me. At least, I don't think so right?" Suddenly I could feel the plea in my eyes as mine met his, begging him not to hate or fear me. Maybe he was only friends with...

I was cut off as I was swept up into a bone crushing hug, something I didn't expect from him. "You only scare me if you're mad, even if you are like a foot smaller than me. I swear, I could use you as a footrest." He pulled away too soon in my opinion, letting his arms fall to his sides as he backed away. "So. You know my brothers are mutants too, right? That would be really bad if you didn't figure that out.." He grinned as I glared, rubbing the back of his neck. "Okay, okay. Well, is it okay that I kind of said you were going to be coming with me to meet them? Like right now?"

"I just found out you're a mutant and now you want me to disappear into the night with you, not knowing if I'm dangerous or not and with me completely unaware if you're just dragging me off so no one finds my body?" When he seemed to deflate, I reached forward and spread my fingers across his chest. "Sure, why not. This isn't the craziest thing to happen in New York, right?"

 **AN: Okay, I do not speak any other languages besides Latin II level stuff, some French and of course English is my first language. So, everything not in english is from google translate and I'm sorry if it's wrong. Please correct me if you do know it.**

 **Anyway, the translation is "If only you were worth something..." for "Wenn du nur etwas wert warst ..." At least, as far as I know.**


	8. For Me or because You're Lonely?

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or any of it's series. I only own the plot and this story's characters, Charlotte, Jasmine, Antoinette and Angel. Maybe a few minor characters here and there but they aren't really important in this chapter.**

 _Mikey's POV_

Of course finding out your secret best friend is a mutant is a little disorienting, but every bad thought I had quickly went out the window when I found her curled up in the corner of our little shack, her bag in the corner filled to the brim with all the drawings she was going to take home. I smiled as I moved to where she was, picking her up to try and move her to a more comfortable spot but she just wrapped her arms around my shoulders and nuzzled her face into my neck. I could feel my face heat up from the feeling of her breath on my pulse point, but I couldn't force myself to pry her off me as I sat down. "Baby, you got to wake up."

"Babe, no. You're comfy." She tightened her grip for a second before relaxing it enough that I could get out of it if I really wanted to, but I didn't let her go. She smiled as she pulled away enough to kiss my cheek lazily before letting her head fall back into place. "I tired."

I snorted and fixed my arms so they supported her without being in a bad spot. "I noticed, you were passed out when I got here. Unless you just wanted to be on my lap and were faking..." I laughed as I heard her meek noises of protest, resulting in an easy slap to my arm. I barely glanced at my arm which now had two fading scratch marks on it, like a cat's warning.

Antionette though was immediately grabbing my arm gently and asking if I was okay, looking like she just committed treason to the crown. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hu..." She paused as she examined my arm with her eyebrows scrunched together. "Where did...?"

I grabbed her hands gently into mine as I pressed our foreheads together. "You didn't hurt me, I promise. I got scratched, but it was like a kitten one and already disappeared." If I lied to her she'd get pissed, so the truth was the easiest thing. "You don't have to be scared you're going to hurt me, I'm more worried about it the other way around. You can pass for human but I can't and people who don't like me, they'll see me from a mile away. Plus I'm huge compared to you and as strong as I know you are, I'm pretty sure I could crush you if I tripped and you were in my way."

Antionette laughed quietly. "You are so ridiculous, you know that?" She suddenly shifted nervously in my lap before blushing as she realized what she was doing, taking a few seconds to calm herself. "Do you think...do you think I could kiss you? I mean maybe you don't like me that way, but you're the only person that I can really talk to and we've only known each other for a little while but I really like you. You're funny and smart and you don't think I'm useless or defenseless...you just...you're Mikey."

I just stared at her form slumping in the dark like she just revealed some dark secret. I don't know how long we sat in silence as I processed her words, tears stinging at my eyes. The first time April saw us, she passed out. Casey thought we were going to eat April and the police...They thought we were monsters. And as much as I forgive them, it still hurt to know they might still think that. But with her...She saw me as...Mikey. She didn't meet me as a giant talking turtle or a ninja protecting the city. And she was..amazing. "Antoinette?" When she she looked up at me nervously, I pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Do you like me because I'm Mikey or do you like me because we're both mutants and you've known me as an only option for a while?"

Antionette looked like she was going to retort before pausing. "I don't know. But I mean there's your brothers too, so you aren't the _only_ option. And my friends but I don't swing that way..." She sat there quietly with me as we both thought about her answers. I already knew I liked her because she was Antionette. I didn't know she was a mutant and I'd grown to like her knowing I most likely wasn't ever going to be able to see her outside of the shack. "Raph is abrasive, too rough. I have enough of that in _my_ personality. Leo is a leader, he doesn't relax and we'd rub each other the wrong way. If Donnie works, I'll be doing something stupid. And with you..." She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "You know how I take your drawings? It's like a piece of you and I feel proud knowing I get to see them, you're letting me see them." She looked me in the eyes as she moved so she was straddling my lap now and her hands were splayed across my plastron. "You make me feel safe and you trust me. Yes, you can be annoying. But hey, so can I." She moved closer as she talked. "So yes, I do like you because you are Mikey."

 _Antionette's POV_

"You wanna meet my family?" Mikey asked quietly as he nuzzled my head from our cuddling position. After making it very clear we liked each other for better reasons than we were the only options the other had, we had decided to save our first kiss and to just cuddle since both of us were ready to pass out. I didn't even really process what he was saying because I knew I'd already met his brothers. "I mean, go to home home and actually meet my brothers and my dad."

 _That_ woke me up. "You're _dad?_ I thought you just had brothers! This isn't something I was aware of..." I sat up as I rubbed at my eyes to get them to stay open, glaring at him in the dark. Where are my glasses? I can barely even squint at you." When I found them I finally got a good look at his face and the dark blush on his cheeks. "I'm sorry, but you woke me up by asking me to meet someone I've never heard of before."

Mikey smiled shyly at me as he fidgeted with his fingers. "My dad is kind of one of the most important things to me and my brothers. We almost lost him a couple years ago and he's the only parent we have." I could almost picture how protective they must be of him. Families are always protective of the oldest and the youngest members of their pride. "So, I ask again. Do you want to meet my family?"

I nodded slowly before holding up a hand. "I'll meet you back here, I want to grab some stuff first." I don't know why but I suddenly had a strong feeling that I was going to need my stuff with me. I kissed his cheek as he nodded and started to make my way back.

With my enhanced hearing I heard him make the call. "Hey Leo, you remember Antoinette right? While she's coming over and I know I haven't mentioned her to Dad yet or even asked but at least it will go better than Casey since he thought he was going to eat him." I laughed as I ran, rounding the corner which would lead me home.

When I got there, I quickly snuck to my room and threw the few things I had laying around into my gym bag that held everything I owned before noticing Mikey's pictures. I stared at the one that he had done with charcoal, somehow capturing the minute we met in an image. It was a rooftop view that stared down at a dark figure on the street, the only thing visible in the street light was a razor sharp grin as it stared up at the viewer. I hadn't realized what it looked like to him when we met.

I shook myself out of dream land to fold it nicely along with a few of my other favorites and quickly secured it to my back. I barely made it to my bedroom door before deciding I should grab the other's bags too. I'd leave them at the shack just incase. Angel's was easy enough to get to, it was just in the part of the building that didn't have lights so it was like a dark cave. I quickly got the most important stuff into her bag only to find that everything actually fit. She wasn't a big collector which was weird. I shrugged it off as I left her bag by the exit and climbed up to the other two's rooms. Jas was up really high because it was near the heating unit and she was cold blooded, it was more like a nest than anything. Her stuff was neatly put away besides a few things I found she had stashed away to hide from us. I didn't even look when I grabbed Char's on the way back down, she refused to be unprepared. I struggled with everything for a second till I got it in the right spot and sighed in relief.

It took me longer than I wanted it to to get back, but I eventually made it. As soon as I stepped into our shack to dump the bags, I came face to face with something I never thought I'd see. Mikey angry. "There is nothing you can do about it. This is the one thing I'm going against you on Leo, all on my own without any asshole older brother telling me."

I could hear the shock on the other end, like Mikey didn't usually hold back until it all exploded. There was her name in a biting tone, saying I was a bad influence or something and there was the anger in his eyes again. I snatched the phone out of his hand with a glare in his direction to let him know he was supposed to shut up. "Hello Leo. Has Mikey ever been this happy before? Has he ever broken the rules before to benefit only himself? No, I didn't think so. So let him do it just this once, because I'm pretty sure the rest of you have."

"You don't get to make those decisions for..." I smirked as I hung up on him, watching Mikey's face go from shock to horror to pride. For me. And if I accidentally put his phone on silent except for emergencies...oh well.

 **AN: Okay Y'all, one last update before I have a whole bunch of writing to do. I know this one is shorter than a lot of the others but I packed a lot in here. Hope you like!**


	9. Blurting Out The Words

**Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT or any of its characters. I only own Angel in this chapter.**

 **An: It's been really rough with school and stuff so posting might not be as often, but please review. Reviews help. Thank you to Megmoo again, I smile every time I see that you have. But I would like to see other people's opinions too.**

 _Angel's POV_

Going to the studio was something I did when I needed a break from everything but I hadn't realized it wasn't just me. There he was, boarding in the dark just as he threw what looked like a small brick at the stack of cushions we had put together on the floor. He was steaming and angry and frustrated and his muscles were tensing just in the light enough for me to see and smirk at. I hadn't forgotten just how he _got_ those muscles but where was the fun in that?  
"Someone needs to get laid." Shit, where had that come from? I was suddenly very glad I was hidden the darkness because my face was about a million different shades of red. "That a girl who decided you sneaking out to see me was too much?" Normally I was blunt person, it was part of my personality. But I did not say stuff like that to people! Not even my sisters!

Leo groaned and leaned against the wall, leaving me to push the image of him doing that under different circumstances out of my head. "That would be so much easier to deal with than what my brother is doing. Bringing a girl to meet Dad without telling anyone but me. She's an ex gang member and is going to get us in _so_ much trouble."

 _Your mutant brother is bringing home a girl?_ Who knew there were normal people that could deal with one of them? I could barely deal with them and I had more patience than most people. Which is saying something because I have literally no patience for most shit that people do. "So he gets to bring her home but I'm stuck here?"

Leo shifted uncomfortably and crossed his arms. "Apparently they have a different kind of relationship than we do." Oh, so his little brother is getting _laid_ by a normal girl _and_ bringing her home without permission. Poor guy. I should be nice to him.

"What exactly is this relationship?" Or I could just force him into an awkward situation while I just watch and laugh silently like a bitch. But you know, I was starting to like watching him like this. Squirming and floundering, stuttering over his words because _how do you respond to that?_ I was almost to start talking again and just tell him I knew he was a turtle but then he looked like he figured out what he wanted to say.

"Friends? Like pen pals or something because we've never seen each other before," _If only you knew pretty boy_ , "but friends. Really good friends, as best we can be in this situation." And then I remembered the other reason why I wanted to watch him squirm, I was kind of mad at him. "Right?"

I smirked into the darkness and imagined him seeing my bared teeth catching the light, unaware if it was threatening or not. "Is that what you want to be, friends?" And then the world exploded, blinding my eyes and forcing my hands my face as I pressed my palms into my closed lids, almost like I could force the light out of them if I really wanted to. When I felt like my eye weren't stinging anymore and I could open them, I was met with a frozen Leo in all of his mutant glory.

Last night in the dark with dim lighting did nothing to prepare me for what I was seeing now. His arms were tree trunks and his chest was plated with what could have been armor if I didn't know it was fused to his skin. His back was covered by a giant shell with straps coming off it to hold the swords peeking out over his shoulders in place. His hands were wrapped like a boxer's, his hands and knees covered in padding like a skateboarder and his eyes...his eyes were shadowed by a strip of blue fabric tied around his head. A mask, the best he could probably find. But the most startling part was the fear. When was Leo ever afraid?

I slowly took off my hoodie and tied it around my waist, simply standing there so he could see me. My eyes that didn't look human, the rounded edges of my ears poking out of my head, almost blending in with my hair because of the dark fur but very much there...I waited for him to breathe, or at least to try and run but he just stood there and watched me. Life was on pause then. And no, I did not mean that as some sort of pun.

"You didn't tell me you were beautiful." _Oh that little shit. He thought he could just get away with all this by complimenting me?_ My cheeks flushed without my permission and my mouth hung open. The fear was still there in his eyes, but he wasn't so tense. It was more like apprehension, he wasn't sure of me yet but he wasn't going to run. Or panic like he was.

"You didn't tell me you were a ninja turtle who beats the shit out of Foot soldiers. Nice hook by the way." I grinned cheekily at him and it only got wider when he looked confused. "Sorry about your little brother's hand, guess we both have a protective instinct."

Anger flashed in his eye for a second before he seemed to understand the meaning of my words. "That was you? You, with the roaring and the...You know Raph is going to never let me live this down?" His fingers played with his straps for a second before he saw me, pouting. 'Why are you laughing at me?"

Why was I laughing? "Nothing, it's just...you kind of smell like chocolate? Did you have pancakes this morning or something? And it's such a normal thing to do to have chocolate chip pancakes in the morning like you're human and I kind of miss that because I can't have chocolate now, it makes me sick..." And suddenly I wasn't laughing because all of the stress and anger and fight just left me and there i was crying in the middle of a dance studio with a giant turtle or a best friend.

Leo must have walked up to me at some point because then he was there and wiping away the tears on my cheeks with his thumbs and had this little smile on his face, "Well you smell like wet fur so you got the better deal," and I was hiccuping because I actually wanted to laugh this time. "Did you recognize me when we were fighting?"

"No. Just when we were leaving, I kind of caught your scent and I didn't really think anything of it because you smell like sewer and pizza which made sense but then I just kind of got this really faint smell and I realized it was you. You're like the only person I know that smells like bonsai trees." I reached up and pulled his hands from my cheeks because he was kind of cold, but when he tried to pull away I held on to his hands. The whisper came out before I could stop it. "I like your scent though, let's me know you're real."

I had never seen some blush so darkly in my life. His entire body turned warmer and his face turned a darker green than it already was. His head dipped like he was trying to hide his embarrassment, but then I realized his breathing was uneven. "People usually scream or faint, or fight us. You..." He lifted his head so I could see his eyes. "You wanted me to be real? Not a nightmare to be feared or a dream because who else are you going to be friends with?"

Even though he flinched like that was insulting, I smiled brightly at him. "You're Leo and you hate rock music for some godforsaken reason, but I like you. So yeah, I'm happy you're real." I kissed his cheek on impulse and slowly pulled away.

"Do you want to properly meet my family?' Leo looked scared of blurting that out and I was suddenly reminded of the time we met and he reminded me that I said I was fat. I liked that I did that to him.


	10. Let Me Get This Straight

**Disclaimer: I do not own the movies, the cartoons or anything else to do with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I wouldn't be able to handle it.**

 **AN: Sorry for the late update, it's been really rough for a while and I fell back into some old habits. I literally had no inspiration and hated what I had written. But I hope you guys like it. I'll try to update more in the future.**

They had it planned our really well for something that had been a spur of the moment thing. They had wrapped her eyes with the masks and carried them, carefully picking out a confusing route and then going in through different entrances. They made sure to contact their father and let him know before hand so it wasn't like with Casey and him just randomly dropping in. What was really funny was, they staggered it perfectly.

Donnie was with Jasmine in the lab after respectfully greeting Splinter without flinching and he greeted her with a cautious gaze and a nod, but there was nothing alarming about the girl, not to him. She was soft spoken and respectful, but the second Donnie said something she disagreed with she was all set to argue with him. And if she wanted him to stop talking? She'd just fluster him and change the subject. She was kind to him and made Donnie smile and roll his eyes.

Mikey had greeted Splinter with a, "Hey Dad, this is Antionette!" And she stuck her hand out to shake with a raised eyebrow like she was watching him the same way he was her. With trust ready to give, but very easily swiped off the table in favor of something more defensive. Then she was whisked away to the room he shared with Raph so he could show her his stuff.

Raph was next with a girl who walked on the pads of her feet and had a razor sharp grin filled with daggers, but also one who blushed darkly when Raph called her his friend and nudged her. She might have had rough hands but her face was soft and so was the way she looked at the guy next to her, so it was all okay. Even all of his instincts telling him to run were quieted when she introduced herself and laughed nervously because she forgot how to pronounce her name. They petered off into the kitchen because they needed nutrients after chasing each other.

And finally Leo who brought in a bear of a girl with large fists and an even louder personality, but her voice was rarely used in favor of letting Leo talk and introduce her, using his larger size to hide in his shadow. When she did speak, it was only to be polite and let him know it was "wonderful to meet you, Leo's a huge dork" while she laughed and left his usually well composed son to sputter and reach over to ruffle her hair in response.

It was funny really, how they all chose that moment to come back. Jasmine raced in with something in her hands as Donnie groaned and asked for it back, almost tackling her in the process. She ended up falling into Donnie's chair and sliding right into Leo as she laughed.

Before anyone could react, Charlotte basically stumbled over the railing of the dining room and landed on all fours and growled playfully. "Fight me you big oaf! I want my bacon back!" Raph grinned down at her from the seat he'd taken at the table.

And just to top it off, Mikey ran holding something to his face and stumbling around. "You're really blind, like actually horrendously blind!" He grinned as she ran after him and tried to grab them, making a rude comment about how she could still see his ugly mug from a mile away.

"You've got to be kidding me." Angel was just staring at them as all heads whipped around to look at her wide eyes and tired expression. "You little shits, were none of us on patrol ever?" She huffed and crossed her arms. "I can't believe you kept it a secret though." She grinned as Antionette snatched her glasses back to glare at her and hissed lowly.

Charlotte flinched away and punched her lightly. "Stop it! You three are in _soo_ much trouble! Did they have to save you from the foot?" She glared at Antionette and snarled when she blushed darkly. "Jasmine, I swear to every god I can name that if you were too weak to get to us and you brought him to our home I'm gonna..."

"What, bite me?" That seemed to be the wrong answer as Charlotte tackled Jasmine who was still in the chair which ended up tipping over, the guys too stunned to do anything about it. Angel sighed like this was completely normal and walked over to try and pull them off each other. "Hey!" She grabbed Charlotte by the scruff of her neck and picked her up. "No."

Jasmine grinned as if she was enjoying the show but then Antionette was in between them with her claws out and making angry growling noises. When Jasmine finally relaxed, she stood back up and retracted her claws. "Yes, the guys saved me from the Foot. Yes, Donnie brought her home so getting angry at the guys for her being sick wasn't the smartest choice on your part. Yes we all should have told each other. Can y'all stop bitchn' now?"

Angel dropped Charlotte who hissed before lowering her head like a reprimanded child. "Whatever. I'm still mad." She slinked over to where Raph was and flipped her way over the railing to snatch the bacon out of his frozen hand. "Cat got your tongue?"

"He wishes!" Jasmine shouted at her and they all grinned as the boys broke out of their trance. Splinter was of course watching in amusement as the boys tried to process what just happened. "Hey, you knew. I don't see why you're so surprised."

Donnie picked her up and sat himself down in his chair, rolling his eyes at her. "Yes, I totally knew that the other mutants you hung out with were sneaking off to see my brothers." She just raised an eyebrow at him and tilted her head, not convinced in the slightest. "Fine! I knew about Mikey's girl but no one else!"

"Hey, I have a name you know!" Antoinette pouted as Mikey wrapped an arm around her waist, leaning into his chest. "Sorry if all you remember from our last visit was wha..." She struggled against Mikey's hand for a second, her eyes widening with victory as he pulled away.

"EW! Now I know how Raph feels..." Mikey pouted, rubbing his hand in her hair and electing the slightest noise that could have been a pur if none of them valued their ability to hear. "You have all your shots missy?"

A whistle rang through the air as all eyes directed themselves to Leo who was pinching the skin between his brow. "Let me get this straight. Each of us at some point met a mutant girl, didn't tell each other and all four girls know each other. Donnie and Mikey are whatever with Antionette and I didn't get your name, is that one Jasmine?" Angel nodded with an amused smile. "And we all just decided to bring them here _at the same time_."

Angel grabbed his hands and looked him in the eyes. "To be fair, none of us knew about all four of you either." He just groaned and pressed their foreheads together, lowering his head. "At least now we've met your dad and you have us for allies. Oh and now we can give you information on the foot!" In her excitement, she kissed his cheek and looked at Charlotte. "Do you think they have a computer you could use?"

"My program!" She tripped over the railing, again, and grabbed Donnie away from Jasmine who whined from her new place on the floor. "Where's your computer? The..." They started talking too fast with words Splinter did not understand, both slowly letting grins akeen to evil as they continued their conversation. "...and then the program just predicts movements based on past strategies and information on all known soldiers."

Donnie just grabbed her hand and started dragging her to the lab, much to everyone else's confusion. "If we aren't out in 24 hours, please bring coffee and sustenance!" _This is either going to bring them closer together and stronger as a whole, or blow up worse than the time Leo tried to make dinner._


	11. Aftermath

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or its characters. If you recognize anything except only from earlier chapters, I probably don't own it.**

 **Author's Note: Can y'all please tell me what you think of the last two chapters? Constructive criticism and points on what you liked are always good.**

 _Charlotte's POV_

Making a super computer program that can almost always tell you what the Foot is going to do is a pretty impressive feat (ha, get it?) if she did say so herself. But it only works for the old foot members and the stupid ones that they could gather intelligence from, so when someone new comes up with something they can't plan for... it blows up in their faces.

"Something's happening but I can't pinpoint the most important factor. It's like the cup game with the rock under one of them." Charlotte was staring at her screen with her lip between her teeth and if she didn't have normal ears, they'd be plastered to her head. She didn't notice until she saw Raph trying to keep a straight face as he walked over with coffee, but she was purring to try to calm her nerves.

"My best friend is a purring nerd. What is my life?" He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and let her relax against him, presenting her with the drink. "You're doing..." The alarm cut him off. It wasn't the one for the lair, but it was set off by lights popping up on one of the screens. Something was happening.

Charlotte grabbed the controller from Donnie and zoomed in on a specific spot with her eyes narrowed and lips pressed firm. "They wouldn't dare..." A patient hunter knows when to strike, a dead one never strikes at all and a stupid one goes full frontal thinking the prey will either stay still or charge forward. "FUCK!" She threw Donnie the controller and without a thought or care felt her bones breaking as her spine shifted and her nails cutting through muscles and skin alike. The pain helped her focus her mind.

 _Invaded. Territory destroyed._ Her tail flicked behind her, twitching as her ears pressed to her head. She eschewed from the one who smell of predator, someone she wasn't interested in fighting with today. She had a name but right now her mind was not focused on that. She needed new territory...she needed a way to fight back...she needed...

There was a mass in her way, sitting very calmly and unthreatening, but clearly alive. She could almost taste it's sweat. It didn't speak, it didn't move. It was new, this form had not experienced it but part of her brain was saying they were okay. She padded over to it, sensing the tensing of muscles. Good, it was at least naturally afraid of her. She got as close as she dared, taking in it's scent. She rested her head next to it's nudging it. When it slowly raised it's hand to touch her, she made a pleased sound at the touch. She liked this one. "Is she usually so affectionate?"

"Not in the slightest." She turned her gaze to whoever spoke with lowered eyes, finding brown ones way too close for comfort. "You know you would make a really good pampered house cat for giants. Or the turtles." She was barring her teeth but she knew it wasn't threatening, more playful. She raised her paw and batted her lightly.

 _Affection...enlarged pride...territory destroyed..._ Charlotte froze in place, her hair standing up slightly. Her human side was pulling through enough for the fear to start creeping through as well. If they had planned this the way she was going over in her head, they were screwed. So _very_ screwed. But she also had something to help with the fact that they were now homeless.

"Nope, nope! Not watching this again!" As soon as her vocal cords allowed her too, she bubbled out a pained laugh. It sounded strange with her muzzle, but was the least disturbing thing about her transformation. She stretched from her spot on the floor, her back cracking a few final times before she stood to her full height with her fangs not yet retracted. Mikey finally pulled his fingers away, sighing in relief. "Girl do you sharpen those yourself?"

She was starting to like Raph's brothers. "What do you think we do with Foot soldier armor?" She laughed as he scrunched his face weirdly, turning to Antoinette. "I know you keep a bag with you all the time..." She almost cried when all of their emergency packs dropped on the floor, almost bursting with how much she had stuffed them. Charlotte almost voiced how impressed she was. "We need a place. But first, I know why they attacked the warehouse." She glared at Donnie who just shrugged like he didn't know he was supposed to tell them. She met the shock with a calm expression and continued. "They think we hate the turtles and wouldn't have anyone to go to. We'd be untrained, unarmed and possibly injured. If not, very angry. And who would investigate the explosion?"

"A set up to get us fighting and in one place...They wanted to draw _us_ out while _you_ guys were in a vulnerable state." Donnie ran a hand over his face under his glasses. "That's brilliant. They must must know you guys really well."

Jasmine snorted and Angel made a weird face. "Of course they do, our personalities were already prevalent when they created us." Angel was always sassy, but when she was feeling protective or angry she was extra sassy and didn't really have a filter.

"What are we going to do about this? I mean I know you said we need a new place but..." Antoinette shrugged. "Like Splinter can give up space, like we know anyone we can stay with." Sometimes her manipulation was open and sometimes it was subtle. Today, Charlotte had no idea which it was.

Heels clicked from one of the only normal entrances to the lair, a red head with an outfit just skimpy enough that it could still be considered okay and a clipboard. "Donnie, I found some of my dad's old stuff and I was..." She froze as she looked up and took in the sight around her. Antoinette seated on Mikey's lap with what could be a smile, Donnie leaning behind Jasmine a little too closely, Charlotte moving next to Raph and flexing her fingers, _normal_ was the only thing running through her head. And then she saw the last member of our party leaning on Leo's shoulder and raising her eyebrows. "What's going on?" She blinked once in surprise and looked like she was trying to process something incomprehensible. "Angel?" Okay, that was not what she was expecting to be the thing.

 **AN: Oh, don't you guys love when I make random characters connected? Cause I do. I pounded this out in like a day and I'm dead. But I owe you all a quick update and I'm feeling productive right now. I just condensed 12 double sided note sheets onto one note card, one sided, for my unit final. If I can do that, I can do almost anything. Hope you guys like it!**


	12. Nationals

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.**

 **AN: I'm going to try to write longer chapters but I don't know how long that's going to take me so I might not update as frequently as I want to. Just a warning. But anyway, love you all.**

 _April's POV_

Angel Lillia Moreno was smirking at her, her usual confidence radiating through the whole room and making her feel slightly bad for not having time to brush her hair. But that all slipped as she heard her name. Yes, she was very different appearance wise. Gone was the petite girl with the winning smile and gorgeous eyes that drew in judges'. But her smirk was the same, like the rest of the world needed to catch up with her instead of her running along with it. She still had the eyebrows that somehow looked _good_ when they were going in different directions and...she had the same face. God, she had memorized that face as she reported on her. First for Nationals, then twice for her disappearance.

" _Looks like you got a great case here, maybe you can get boosted up to..." She tuned out the insult thrown at her by one of the other reporters. What did they matter? She was here for a job and a job she was going to do well. "Are you even listening to me, April?"_

 _She glanced at her watch and almost sighed in relief. She'd had to grab her research and was waiting for Vernon to bring the van around from the garage, glad to see he would be out front unless he was late. "No, I wasn't listening to you. I'm like most of the viewers forced to watch you, I can't shut it off but I can mute it!" She waved goodbye with a smirk and slid happily into the passenger seat._

 _When they got to the dance hall, they were immediately shuffled back to talk to the dancers who were already set up or were late and therefore had later spots. They asked if they were nervous, how long they had practiced and who they say as competition. They asked about the judges and what they thought of them, if any of them had anything that seemed a little weird like cheating or bribes for the judges. The girls were too polite._

" _Shouldn't you be asking questions about our routines?" The girl in front of her was small like most of the other dancers, but then again so was she if she wasn't in heels. This girl was one of the taller ones, almost 5'4. "Like how long we've been practicing for this or what it means if we win? You might be looking for drama but the only way you're going to find it is if you make it happen."_

" _Well then, why don't you answer those questions for us. I did some previous research and I found that most girls your age do about 10 hours a week leading up to this. Is that any different from what you have actively participated in?"_

 _The girl seemed much more relaxed with this kind of questioning and a smirk graced her face like she knew this was going to happen and she was so very proud of herself. "Our studios require us to do ten hours a week at least, yes. But we are not required to be at the studio for some of these hours. They want us to remain healthy and with homework and other activities such as work, it's hard to force your body through that. So they give us a certain amount of hours we_ have _to be in the studio to actually learn our dances but then give us some time to do things at home. Some of the other girls and I do yoga at my house Sunday nights after practice to relax, but also study and get work done."_

 _After a few more questions, she waved us off and said she had to warm up. She came back a second later with one of the younger competitors who seemed excited to be here. We talked with her and she explained the differences between the ages. She had less hours and more yoga time to keep her body fit and ready but not stressed and overworked. "And it's so much fun! A lot of the girls here are really competitive and harsh at times, but we all do it because we love it! I would die if I couldn't do this. I can picture my gravestone, death by boredom!" She bounced away to warmups and we took our seats._

 _I never thought I would see either of those girls again but it turned out their studio won medals in a lot of the categories, even if some of them were bronze. They were stars for what looked to be a week._

" _I need you to get over to the studio that won all those metals. I can't remember the name..."_ On Your Toes _, April thought with a small smile. It dropped as soon as he finished his sentence. "...but the girls who dance here got kidnapped last night. No locks were broken or anything so I think they were trying to go for stealthy, but the girls fought back hard. We need you to cover this."_

 _The studio was a mess. Some of the glass was shattered, the lights didn't really work and the bars were ripped off the wall. Pillows were everywhere, a tv was smashed in the corner..."Oh my god." Her hand flew to her face before she could stop herself. "Did anyone get out of here? Do we know who attacked?"_

 _She needed to go into investigation mode. She had to. So she went around and she wrote things down, she talked to people on and off camera. She needed to do this. Finally she was talking to someone who said, "...and from what I can understand, this happened Sunday night. Some of the girls wanted to go home to study but a teenager, Angel, and a few of the older kids stayed behind because they had another big competition going on..."_

" _Angel, Angel Moreno? The girl who won gold at Nationals a month ago?" And suddenly it hurt so much worse thinking she knew one of the faces in the detectives' file. "I interviewed her there. They said...she said she never missed a yoga night after practice."_

" _Well she's on the list. There's a guy her age and four older girls. And one kid."_

 _She didn't want to be the one to do this. She wanted to scream and fight and punch one of those stupid Foot soldiers in the face. They said it was a gang thing and one of the girls had gotten in a mess with her ex boyfriend in the Purple Dragons so they tried to grab her and ended up taking everyone in the studio too. Everyone knew it was a lie. It was the Foot, they were just as strong as they used to be. They just didn't do daylight anymore._

" _Bodies have been found that resemble who is most likely the missing ballerinas from last year. One of them has been identified as Molly Hawkins, who won silver in her category during their national competition. She was a month away from being fourteen when she died." April could picture her tomb stone as her parents mourned the loss of their child. Death by torture._

Time was frozen in the lair as she tried to take in what was happening. Almost two years ago, this girl won gold at a national competition. A month later, she was kidnapped from her studio by foot soldiers along with Molly Hawkins, Travis O'Connell and four eighteen year olds whose parents asked that we not disclose their names so she never learned them. After almost a year, they found the bodies. Molly was the one one identifiable by fingerprint, appearance or any other typical methods. The rest of them...it took analyzing their bones to figure out who was who.

And now, right in front of her, was the girl who everyone thought was lost to the ocean. They didn't see her body with the rest so they swept and looked in dumpsters but there was nothing. They assumed her body was in worse condition than anyone else's so it was either cremated or already decomposing in the ground.

"You're that reporter who was snooping around while we were trying to get ready for nationals. You were the one Molly wouldn't stop freaking out about because she thought she said something stupid on TV." Angel wasn't angry. She wasn't happy. She wasn't confused. No, her voice held no emotion what so ever. "You were the one who told her parents...or did you even think to? Because I don't know what's worse. It being publicized or _learning_ about it that way."

 _That wasn't my job_ , was on the tip of her tongue but she forced it down. "The police informed everyone before we were even allowed on scene or _told_ about it." She turned her attention to the rest of the girls. She didn't like the one with Mikey and how she was trying to intimidate her with baring teeth, it took a lot more than that. The one with Donnie was more unnerving than anything else and the way he was standing...the girls were taking them in one at a time. And the one next to Raph was clearly already territorial.

"I'm sorry babe, I can't hug you. I got my hands full." Mikey laughed at his awful joke, tightening his grip on the girl in the hood as she tried to hit him. Her breath caught for a second as it fell away from the movement, revealing dark marks like a mask across her eyes and razor teeth.

"You bet you do." She kissed his cheek before leaning back on his plastron and smirking. Suddenly a face popped into her head of a lean and mean girl with vampire fangs in crashing a part she was at, terrifying guests and breaking glasses. "Hello April O'Neil. Long time no see..."

April was never tempted to growl before but she was now, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Maybe that's because you're blind." She forced her expression to stay still but the girl before her hissed darkly like she'd been threatened. Not in anyway the boys would understand but she wanted it clear the boys were _her's_. She named them, she found them and she fought with them.

"April, Angel, Antoinette, I believe that's enough." Splinter's voice was quiet but firm. "I believe we discussing arrangements for you all. If my sons put the effort in, I believe the new garage will do until we can find something else. Just as a reminder, the doors leading to the lair tend to lock." That was almost enough to make her smile. "And as for the discussion on the Foot, that can wait for the morning."

Donnie found her in the lab, spinning lazily in his chair. "You don't like them very much do you?" She shook her head, it was always hard to lie to him. "Is there a reason why? I mean I get that you're kind of protective of us but I already looked them up while Charlotte was running through her program."

"You let her play with your computers?" She couldn't believe it. Or could she? April knew what girls were like and how they worked against guys above ground. But they didn't know anyone but her and there was no way she was using her powers on them. "Donnie, how much do you actually know about them?"

 _Jasmine's POV_

April didn't like them and that was completely fine with her. She went into the garage with the cars and started working on the project Donnie had given her on their first date. Was that what it was? A date. She smiled softly as she thought of it, cursing herself for not telling him she felt sick earlier. Almost dying with him racing her home and then climbing out the window would have been a cheesy rom com if her survival wasn't in question. She hissed as her finger hit a wire that she hadn't covered yet, almost electrocuting herself. "Fuck."

"Can't believe Donnie kisses that mouth." She hissed as she spun around in the chair, almost crashing into a large form. "You're Jasmine, righ'?" Raph. the one with the thicker accent and the tendency to act like a tough guy. Red mask. She tried to calm her heart as she nodded slowly, her tongue flicking out on reflex. "Dad doesn't like swearing so I'd keep it to the garage. He knows he can't stop us in here."

Jasmine laughed. "Oh I wanna see Donnie swear like a mother trucker!" They high fived before scrambling to catch her as she almost fell off the spinning chair, making them laugh harder. Charlotte walked in to find Jasmine sitting on the floor, shaking horribly and Raph kneeling next to her. Jasmine didn't know the girl could look more confused than that time she tried a brain teaser.

 **AN: TWO UPDATES WITHIN LIKE THREE DAYS I'M SO PROUD OF MYSELF! There was a storm with 70 MPH winds and the town my high school is in literally shut down. No power, no driving. School was canceled so I had fun today. Hope you like!**


	13. A Variety of Views

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle franchise or any of it's series. This is mainly based off the movies with some details from the 80's cartoons.**

 **MegMoo: I'm glad you like it so far! Was kind of nervous about those last two chapters! Here's some more of the boys like you asked, I hope you continue enjoying the story!**

 _Mikey's POV_

Contrary to "popular" belief, Mikey was not stupid. Yes, he was more connected to his emotions than his brothers and loved the upper cultures, he was fascinated by them. He was curious to the point of irrationality. But he wasn't the only irrational one. Donnie trusted his machines too much, Raph was passionate and strong but he forgot to think things through, Leo was a good leader but he was stubborn and refused to listen to anyone but Splinter. And April...she acted like they knew nothing of the outside world, like she alone held the knowledge of the universe. She could be manipulative and stubborn and...

"...sometimes I wish she'd remember that's she not our only human friend. Casey plays a mean round of hockey and works in the shop with Donnie and Raph. Vern is an arrogant ass but at the very least he's funny." Mikey was pacing again, a habit his brothers and him had picked up after being cooped up for so long. They needed to move sometimes and it helped them concentrate. "She comes in here with no information and just goes on a fucking rampage!"

"It sounded like you're the one going on a rampage." Antoinette was watching him with an amused smirk, her head tilted slightly like a cat. She looked like one, curled up onto the top of his covers with her chin resting on her hands. "Look, girl's are a lot like animals cause believe it or not, they are just as intune to those instincts as guys. You are part of her pack and she is as much alpha as Leo. She just doesn't use her power as much. And she doesn't like females moving in on her pack. It's like a reverse pack of lions, with one female and a bunch of males instead of the other way around."

Okay, maybe that made a little sense but it still didn't make him happy. "But I like having you here...now I know you're safe. No one knows where this place is so they can't blow it up in the middle of the night or send entire armies there or slowly poison you..." Mikey took a deep breath. "Maybe my creativity isn't always good."

Antionette laughed, grabbing at his hands like a child for a toy. "Come here you dork. I'm fine." She rubbed her nose against his muzzle, making him laugh at how ridiculous she was. "Besides, April is going to end up being fine with us because I'm pretty sure her and Casey are going to balance each other out when they start dating." When she saw his shocked expression, she smirked. "Oh yeah. Totally going to happen." _I don't understand girls_.

"Run this by me again. We already know about Antoinette, we've seen her shift. But Charlotte's a lioness, Angel's a bear and Jasmines a snake?" Leo was pressing me harder today, trying to get the tension and frustration out of his muscles. "What the actual...?"

I landed a good hit on his calf that made him stumble enough for me to take a breather and step back. "No swearing, Dad'll kill all of us. And yeah, that's what Charlotte and Donnie 'ave been talking about. Used the little mutagen they could get from Rocksteady and Bebop without killing them to get better soldiers."

Leo stuck his tongue out at me as Donnie paused his bo staff practices to butt in. "Mikey's right. They wanted mutants that could blend in and that they could control, gang members don't exactly blend in so they had to bring in unwilling participants and try to control them. As we all know, the girls don't really like listening to people." He grinned before tripping as something apparently snagged his feet. "What the...?" He jumped about a foot in the air when he saw what he'd gotten caught on.

Jasmine was stretching by the warmth of the hot water pipe, in snake form. She was about as thick as Raph's arms, and was probably around three times our heights if a little smaller. She raised her head and flicked her tongue in annoyance, curling herself tighter against it to keep out of his way.

"God she's terrifying." Donnie backed away a couple of steps, his eyes wide as he looked at us. I would have been laughing if I wasn't terrified that she wouldn't be able to control her animal instincts to crush us. "I haven't ever seen her like that before, I didn't realize how _big_ she'd be."

Leo shrugged but he was clearly nervous with the mass of scales and muscle hidden in the shadows of the dojo. "Let's just get back to training and try not to disturb her." He turned to me and mouth, _Donnie's girlfriend looks ready to eat us._ I almost laughed but then Leo would probably kick my ass, Donnie would ask what happened and I'd get blamed so I'd be the one murdered instead of Leo.

When we were done training, we snuck around her and scrambled to the kitchen for food. "Woah." Charlotte was humming as she danced around, waving us to the table. She handed each of us a plate with some sort of wrap and then put a plate of some sort of potato thing in the middle. "Splinter told me what y'all liked and I did some sweet potato chips too."

I was nervous about anyone else cooking but me since everyone else was complete crap at at and it usually ended in something burning. We ended up fighting over the last of the chips because I was starving and she could _cook_. "Are you going to do this after every time we work out because you will be my new best friend."

"This is a thank you. And also everything I gave you is good to eat after a workout, I used to cook for my ex girlfriend after her soccer games and then the rest of them..." She froze for a second before shaking her head. "You guys like it?"

We all nodded but I could see at least Leo and I were confused about why she froze and cut herself off.

"She doesn't remember anything? Like she didn't even remember her name?" I stared at Antoinette, trying to process the words coming out of her mouth and the girl I had met yesterday. The one who cooked workout food and napped in random places, including somehow on the waterfall.

She was half hanging off the edge of the cut out which once held a pipe, luckily it was her torso that was lying on the floor. "Well they told her her name but I don't think it's her birth one cause they seemed to enjoy her not remembering things. Why give her access to something if you can watch her struggle with everything?"

I sat down with my shell fitted to the wall, rubbing my forehead as I tried to keep the headache that was coming from being a problem. "So we have an ex gang member who has pissed off every single one of the Purple Dragons, a ballerina with an attitude, a python who could swallow _us_ whole and likes to sleep in inconvenient places like our dojo, and a girl who doesn't remember anything about her life but random things that come up." I groaned. Our lives had hit a point where everything was just chaotic and messy and so completely insane...What was normal? Was it patrols and nothing happening? Or was it looming threats and fighting armies?

Suddenly hands were prying mine away from my face, I didn't even realize I'd moved, and there she was in front of me with scrunched eyebrows and wide eyes, her lips parted slightly to let her breathe more. "Mikey, do you want us to leave?" I shrugged and pressed my head back, wanting to just sleep so I didn't have to do anything like _think_. "Mikey, please look at me." I didn't move my head but I looked at her. "I mean, do you want to go for a run with me? Clear our heads?"

I nodded slowly and leaned forward to press my forehead to her's. The warmth helped lessen my headache and my eyes weren't screwed so tightly. "I don't think running away from our problems is going to do us much good." She laughed and a smile spread across my face.

 _Raph's POV_

Of course I was the one who had to do patrol. I just wanted to crash when I got back to the lair, everything was sore and my hands were cut open from slipping and having to grab onto a broken ledge. I was just going to rewrap my palms and go to bed but Donnie saw and forced me to sit as he cleaned them and checked to see if I needed stitches.

"I'm fine, Donnie!" I flinched as he wiped the antiseptic on, glaring down at the floor to ignore the looks I was sure to be getting. I knew he was probably right to be mad at me for trying to avoid this, infections sucked. "Can you please hurry..." I froze as I caught sight of Charlotte curled up on the medical bed, her tail swishing back and forth in her sleep. "Does she do that alot?"

Donnie's eyes shifted to her with a confused expression before he understood what I meant. "Oh yeah. She tends to sleep in here while I work on projects until one of the girls is ready to sleep. She's a lion so sleeping alone feels like a death sentence apparently." He finally finished wrapping my hands before pausing to look at her. "It's fun to have someone to talk computers with but sometimes she's so...prominent. Like I half expect her to be gone but it's kind of hard to miss a 400 pound cat lying on the medical bed."

I chuckled despite my efforts to stop myself, watching her form shift as she stretched in her sleep. "Yeah, she is hard to miss." I noticed Donnie rolling his eyes and reached out to hit him before he got any ideas on making fun of me.

"I'm not saying you're wrong! But you need to stop looking at that girl like she holds the world cause just cause we're the only mutants on this planet doesn't mean she's gonna like you back." Damn him and his logic. Of course he had a girl so he didn't have to worry about it...then again it was Jasmine.

I flipped him off before walking over to her before realizing she might kill me for waking her up. Lucky for me, she woke up when I got close enough and she yawned with a mouth full of teeth sharp enough to go through bone. I simply pointed at the door and she rolled off the bed, padding over to the exit. "You should sleep Donnie, even Charlotte is going to bed."

She gave him a look that shouldn't have been interpretable when she was in animal form, but she was never good at following the rules. _You will sleep or I'll see how mutant turtle tastes._ When Donnie finally put down his project and started following us out the door, she nudged me with her nose to get me moving.

"Don't push me, doll." I absent-mindedly put my hand on her head like a dog, which got my hand nipped as a reminder that she was not a pet. I bumped her lightly with my hip and in return got hit back twice as hard. "Rude."

"If you two don't stop flirting, Mikey's going to start making furry jokes!" Donnie turned left into his room before I could smack him, his laughter ringing in the space. "Goodbye Charlotte!" He was actually in his bed which was something, though I was still annoyed that I was the one who had to share with Mikey when I was older than him.

For some reason she waited until i was starting to take my wrappings off before she turned around. "You were the mom friend when you were human, weren't you?" She stuck her tongue out at me which looked like she was trying not to yawn ad sneezing at the same time. I might be kicked out of her hunting party, but at least I had that mental image for the rest of my life.

When Mikey came sneaking into the room way after he should have, he was going to get _killed_ for that, he poked his face into my personal space. "I'm glad we brought the girls here. Not just 'cause it saved their lives but also because they're awesome." I shoved his face away, but I had to agree. I liked having the girls here too.

 _Leo's POV_

My legs burned as I moved through the tunnels, weaving through the maze that guarded my home. I needed to get there first, I needed to warn them. I needed to get to them before she could, I had the head start but she had the advantage in speed. She was a mass of four hundred pound darkness going over thirty miles per hour and gaining on me by the second. "Come on, let's do this."

He didn't even need to hear the voice in his headset to know he'd lost, she was leaning back on the entrance with a winning smile and a proud look that was going to haunt me for the rest of my life. "Hey baby, how was your first time losing?" _I hate her so much_. But a part of me was a reminder that I really didn't.

"How was your millionth time cheating?" I tried to brush past her but she just moved in my way, too close for comfort. She just raised an eyebrow at me and walked backwards as Donnie opened the door, swinging her hips as she turned around to talk to Donnie. I took a second to compose myself, ignoring Raph's laughter in my ear,

When I walked into the lair, Angel was high fiving the girls and Mikey who just grinned cheekily like he was on their side instead of mine. It had been a just over week since the girls had unofficially moved in and Angel had joked about how this was turning more into her cave than the "testosterone filled man cave" it had been. "Pay up Leo! You gotta teach you some real dance moves..."

"You said you could beat me to the lair by using speed not some random route you found yourself! That's unfair and counts as cheating." I crossed my arms and glared at her, hoping for her that stupid look to go away but it just came out again in a stronger force. "Donnie, I'm right."

"Donnie, tell him he's an idiot and just because we love him doesn't mean he gets to boss us around. Charlotte's still my leader, not you. Sorry babe." Angel slung an arm around Donnie who looked uncomfortable with the attention.

My brothers would never betray me against the Foot clan, gangs and even aliens. But when a pretty girl batted her eyelashes and said, "please?" my life was over. "You lost. Sorry Leo." He shrugged her off and tried to pass it off as just normal shrugging, grabbing Jasmine's hand and dragging her to the garage.

"Well that was fun. Raph and I are going to go spar. Have fun you two!" Antoinette dragged a very confused looking turtle away from what was left of our group. Dad had gone into a meditative state and only came out to yell and us and eat. She sent a look to Charlotte as the disappeared, using girl mind reading or whatever they did.

Charlotte suddenly decided that her and Mikey had to go make something in the kitchen and leave us alone. I didn't realize until too late what they were doing and then I was stuck with Angel. Alone. After just losing a bet. I would rather have faced a hundred mutants like Bebop and Rocksteady in that moment instead.

"You're hopeless." It was supposed to be an insult but there was affection there that made my cheeks heat up. "Unless you want me to try teaching you ballet, you need to have at least _some_ taste in music. You don't like rock, you don't like pop, you don't like jazz which for some reason you have records for, like this is the 1950's. If you like country I swear to god..." Angel was swinging her hands around while she talked and it was very distracting because the movement made her hair get in her face and she kept having to fix it. "Leo."

I almost laughed at how frustrated she was getting from this _one sided_ conversation. "Angel, breathe. I just don't like any of the songs. Doesn't mean I don't like the genre. Besides rock, it would take a miracle to get me to like it with how much Raph plays. Him and Donnie are weird like that."

She groaned and put her face in her hands, her ears drooping slightly. "What am I going to do with you? Why did I get the worst brother?" She laughed at my expression and the chase started all over again except for this time I had the advantage. She was terrible at running when she laughing, she was tripping over everything except her shoelaces 'cause she refused to wear shoes.

 _Donnie's POV_

Having the girls around was like putting flashing lights in a boring room. Distracting, illuminated some things that made you go, WTF? and weirdly fit somehow. Charlotte was a complete mother hen who refused to let anyone stay up too late with projects, okay just me...or work themselves too hard with training, _cough cough_ Leo _cough cough_. Angel had no filter but her jokes were funny and she teased Leo to the point of him actually blushing at one point. She finally convinced Raph to teach her to play drums in return for arm wrestling tournaments. Surprisingly, Antoinette and Jasmine were kind of quiet. Not that each of them didn't change or make our routine stumble a little, but it was more subtle for them.

"But what if we did this and then put this here instead and then they all fit together like that?" Jasmine handed over the engine parts she was helping me with and watched my face to discern what I thought. "I mean I can put it back..."

I watched her fumble and waited for her to finish before I handed it back. "I like it. It's smaller so I can add other things into the space and it's more efficient. Do you want to help me some more or are you done sharing your brilliance?"

She blushed darkly and started putting what she was working on away. She organized in such a way that it still kind of looked like a mess but an organized mess. Each project had it's own spot and it's parts were in different stages of disarray, but at least I knew where everything was and Raph wasn't trying to add rockets to his bike. Again. "I finis..." She paused, closing her eyes for a second and taking a breath. "I'm done, I'll see you for lunch. Or I'll eat in here and I know how much you hate that..." She was just teasing, she hated food in here as much as I did.

I kissed her forehead and waved her off, promising myself I was going to remember to eat. I was actually starting to remember more because she asked me to. Like not more than once, but everyday even if she wasn't working, she'd pop her head in and remind me. It was less often than not, but I was remembering at least.

She wasn't using any of our weapons, she didn't need them. She was one. She was just doing a few exercises but I could see her taking someone down in a fight without moving her feet. I moved to grab my staff, but there she was leaning on the wall and raising her eyebrows. It was kind of hard to tell because they blended in with her pale skin but her markings moved. "Wanna spar? I'll even let you play with your giant toothpick!"

I rolled my eyes but I moved to grab the mat. It was actually made of glued-together child's play mats, the ones made out of foam. It wasn't that much padding but it was better than solid concrete. We went back and forth for a little while, but I was having trouble without my bo staff. I was so used to it that I could hold my own but I wasn't doing as well as I did with it.

"Know what your muscles can take. Know your weak points and protect them. Your thighs can take a harder hit cause you got more fat there, use your shell cause you know my fist ain't goin' to love me if I hit that. "Antoinette was both annoying me and helping at the same time. When I started listening to her a little bit, it got easier. I was still sore, dead and running on adrenaline and suppressed anger alone but I wasn't getting my shell handed to me. "Char?" She was so surprised she didn't block my hit to her side, leaving her winded.

I immediately started checking her ribs, I was not dealing with that today. "Okay, your ribs are bruised but you'll be fine. Eat and then bed for you, no patrol with Mikey tonight." I smirked at her flustered face, enjoying the pink tint that flared in her cheeks.

 _Jasmine's POV_

"I can't believe Donnie kicked your ass, miss 'I can take on anything' Leclair." I smirked at her as she glared at me from her sleeping bag. We were on a bunch of of old cots that were sinking more than they should in sleeping bags that had holes and stuffing falling out. But they were warm and they smelled like home. "Char, tell the story again!"

A pillow filled my vision as it smacked me in the eyes, leaving the other two giggling from their spots. Charlotte had elected to just make a pillow fort and sleep in that with Angel joining her soon after. They were on the floor staring up at us on their backs, smiling like children. "Watch your language! Snake tongues are a delicacy that I wouldn't mind trying!"

"Hey, hey, no eating each other!" Charlotte was trying to scold us but she was too busy laughing. She let out a soft purring sound as Angel started fixing her hair, braiding and twisting it into a manageable top bun. "Thanks babe!" She kissed her cheek and laughed as Angel puckered her lips.

"Oh, I see how it is. You just like to tease..." There was muffled noises until I looked over the edge of the cot and gasped. Charlotte had grabbed her face and kissed her full on the lips, making obnoxious sounds to go with it. Angel finally shoved her off after the shock went away. "If you're gonna kiss me, do it right next time."

Antoinette whistled and started giggling again. "Ew, no PDA!" She squealed as she was tackled off her cot and right into the fort by Charlotte, making me glad the boys couldn't hear us. "Get off! You're crushing me!"

"Oh no, I'm shifting. I'm getting bigger!" Charlotte stretched over her and yawned. "You know all of this has made me _soo_ tired..." She yelped when she hit the floor and grinned sheepishly at Angel who was standing up with her arms crossed. "We'll fix it!"

It took ten minutes but we got the fort back up and were all curled up inside of it, Antionette already snoring away. Charlotte shoved her feet away and curled up in her spot, her ears flicking slightly and a sigh escaping her. I don't know if Angel ever fell asleep because I was out like a light. _I've never been to a sleepover before..._

 **AN: This isn't exactly what I was planning for this chapter when I looked back on my notes but I like this better. I got my little scene at the end and I hope y'all like it. A little fluff before the wood chipper.**


	14. Explosive Feelings

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle franchise or any of it's series. This is mainly based off the movies with some details from the 80's cartoons.**

 **AN: So Charlotte turns into a Lion, Antoinette into a Honey Badger, Angel into a Bear and Jasmine into a Burmese Python. Antionette is with Mikey and Jasmine is with Donnie. Angel is in that flirting, dancing around pinning stage with Leo. And Charlotte isn't ready for anything with anyone but she flirts with Raph more than everyone else, though she does it with other people too.** _ **Cough cough**_ **Angel** _**cough cough**_ **.**

 _Charlotte's POV_

There was only one mirror in the entire place that wasn't just reflections off the water, it was in the bathroom and it was kind of cloudy from all the dirt, sweat and cheap soap that the boys had smeared on it with their hands. This was my safe space, believe it or not. It looked like a normal bathroom except there was no window, it had a large shower, a large double set of sinks and a toilet like every other bathroom I'd ever been in.

I placed my hand lightly on the cool glass and traced the fingerprints, trying to see how their hands would have found their way there. When I heard someone approaching, I dropped back on my heels and started running the water like I was washing my hands. The hot water helped calm my nerves, it almost made my hands soft as I scrubbed. I snarled at the sink as I remembered that I would never need a sponge again. I shut off the water and shook off my hands, nudged the door open with my head and made my way to...somewhere. Probably Donnie's lab.

"PahLEEEESE! You promised..." Jasmine was laying on my bed with her chin on her hands and her lower lip stuck out as far as possible. "You know I think it's awesome that you understand all of this stuff but sometimes it's hard to follow. I at least mostly understand the bigger stuff in the garage!"

Donnie was about to respond when he noticed me frozen in the doorway. "Hey, I didn't know it was nap time yet." It was meant as a joke but he didn't realize how much it stung, it didn't help that he knew exactly why I slept in here so much. "I promised Jasmine I'd work with her in the shop, are you okay in here alone or do you want to go somewhere else? I just want to make sure none of them bother you."

I shrugged and turned around, trying to hide the strain. _I am used to the idea of sharing my boys._ I ignore the thought and went to find somewhere else to sleep, my body fighting me already. I morphed as I went without thinking about it, I had grown so that mine was more fluid than the others. I was at least relatively the same size and a similar bone structure, besides the spine which hurt like a bitch. I shivered as I went down on my paws, slowing the internal shifting slightly so I could still think like a human. I needed a place to sleep, where would...? My nose took me there before my brain could stop it, sliding into the cave like space and launching myself upward onto the higher ground, curling up as tightly as possible. _Sleep._

"Come on babe, you need to keep up with me." The voice hit me like a freight train but in a good way. It made my breath catch and my heart skip a beat as I whirled around to try and find i, a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth. "Charlotte? Where are you, silly?" The tone was still fun but there was a tremor to it. "Babe!"

And suddenly my body was connecting with something, something warm that smelled like hot chocolate even though the air around us was hot and humid. A startled scream followed, but then we were both laughing as the warmth recognized me. "I'm sorry! Just because I have longer legs than you doesn't mean I can keep up all the time." I pressed my cheek into their neck and it was like I was drinking their scent, my stomach felt warm and my cheeks became flushed.

"Don't I know it! Now come on, we're going to be late! I know you wanted to see Anastasia but they were all sold out and this one is based in Germany! Some of the songs are in the language too and I know you said you like hearing it cause it reminds you of your grandmother but..." The girl, it was definitely a girl, paused her babbling to grab my hands and face me. "Charlotte, are you okay?"

I kissed her nose and then her cheeks, grinning brightly as she pouted when I stopped. "I'm happy. I'm really, really happy. That's all." I memorized as much of her face as I could, her job was going to take her to New York soon and I was going to miss her with everything I had. "Let's go in, I promise to translate all the swear words I know!"

"Well when you put like that..." She laughed and ran in with me, her fingers tightening around mine like she was scared of losing me.

I knew the face in front of me. I didn't know how though, it was just there. She hadn't noticed that I was hiding yet, her eyes searching slowly as she took in the details of the room. I could wait until she gave up and left, I could wait for the large screeching to start when they found I was gone. But I was bored and I wanted to know why this human made me feel like I just ate too much.

"Charlotte..." Whispers, whispers. All too loud for my ears, something she must know with how familiar my name sounded on her tongue. "You hate when I lie so I'm going to tell you right now I don't know where you are. But the sooner I do the more time we'll have to talk..."

I slumped and stretched out in my hiding spot, my nails barely a breath away from the touching the surface I was relaxing on. It gave me a small rush, knowing I was a flinch away from giving up my position. _I always was the better hunter..._

She blew hair out of her face, her eyes going cross eyed as she started getting frustrated. She took a deep breath in, holding it for a second before breathing out. "I bet she's not even in hear and they just wanted to make fun of the new recruit..." Whispers, whispers. "Come on, we aren't five year olds playing hide and seek. _Come out, come out, wherever you are..._ " Snark was clearly her strong suit, but why did it make my chest tighten?

She finally gave up on trying to draw me out, simply punching the wall and the world became pure light for a moment as every light in the room turned on. "Shit that hurt..." She was covering her eyes and rubbing them gently with her fists like a crying child.

If I could have, I would have laughed as I slunk down from my perch and bumped her lightly with my hip as I made my way back to my room. I simply smirked into my paws as I watched my favorite soldier poke his head in with a laugh, shouting, "CALLED IT! She was in her room the whole time!" He locked the door behind himself and walked over, sitting down in front of me. "You just like to mess with us all, don't you?"

I forced a yawn, taking pleasure in the flinch that he couldn't hide. He might be kind but he was still my prison guard and I would not hesitate to eat him if I got hungry enough. Or just bored...I nudged his head with my own and rolled over, telling him I wasn't looking for company.

"Fine, just remember that I haven't ratted you out for leaving yet." He left quickly after that and it took him a week to even walk by my door again.

Waking up was like fast forwarding a VCR, including the sound effects. I was sitting up with my head in my hands before I knew what was happening, my eyes burning holes into the mattress beneath me. I couldn't remember the people but I could remember the feelings and the tastes...I could remember what burnt hot dogs right outside my apartment tasted like because that's where the cheap hole-in-the-wall tavern was and they always gave me free soda. I remembered that slush and sleet and snow could all happen at once and the sounds of it hitting cars and windows that were meant to protect. I could remember what color the moon looked like through sunroofs in 'mom cars'. I hadn't memorized these things, I didn't care about them. But her face...her face was gone.

"What are you doing?" Antoinette raised her eyebrows as she lifted herself up to see what I was doing. "Do you and Raph have a thing going 'cause I thought you were a lesbian with the way you kissed Angel last night..."

"You kissed Angel?" Mikey poked his head up too, grinning cheekily. Suddenly I could see why they fit together, they balanced each other out with half of their personalities but the other half was the same. They both used their hearts instead of their heads and are complete goofballs in a kind of terrifying way if you don't know them.

I shoved them both away, climbing down off the bed and squeezing my way through their questions. I felt like the sahara took up residence in my throat, making its way up to my tongue. I let my feet take me to the kitchen, my fist clenching around the cool glass before I realized I was already there. I pressed the back of my head against the cabinets, dragging my breaths across broken glass. "Don't even think about it." I moved my head so I could see Raph trying to sneak his way around to get something from the fridge. "You know I have good ears, I will hear if you take one of my ginger beers."

Raph rolled his eyes but moved over to where I was so we could talk. "If you wanted to use my bed for a nap, you could have asked." I just raised an eyebrow at him, resulting in that sigh where his muzzle twitches and his eyes pinch. "I went in to get some things and you were there, you aren't the only one with a good sense of smell." He touched my nose lightly before he let his hand fall on my knee.

I reached around him to open the fridge and pressed myself into his side to grab what I wanted on the top shelf. I pulled it back to me and sat back so I could grin at him as I opened what he was here to steal from me. "So cool. So good." I almost giggled from the glare he was giving me but that would mean spitting out the sip I'd taken and that was not happening.

"You're mean, you know that?" As soon as I put it down he snatched it off the counter and started chugging, backing away till I had to jump off the counter to grab at him and by then it was too late. "Aw, so good. So _refreshing._ "

"You little shit! You know that's my favorite!" I ran after her as she squealed and jumped around the furniture, both of us laughing as we fell onto pillows and tripped over the rug. We ended up just crashing on the rug and tickling each other until she surrendered. "I am victorious! Ich gewinne, du verlierst. Blas mir einen..." I froze as she reached over and kissed me, my brain short circuiting. When she went to pull away my hands tangled in her hair and kept her in place so I could respond.

She laughed into it, her confidence giving her a high that made everything better. She tugged on my lip with her teeth before pulling away to look at me. "What were you tell me to suck? Did I get it right, Char?"

"Char? Charlotte." Raph was holding my face in his hands, his thumbs covering most of my cheeks. His eyes were pulled together and his lip was between his teeth as he searched my face for the reason I wasn't responding. When I went to pull away, he kept his grip on me, as light as it was. I wasn't slipping out of this. "What happened?"

 _What happened? What happened? What happened to you, Charlotte? What happened? What happened?_ "I don't know, I guess I just spaced out a little." I felt like someone was slowly tightening a belt around my chest, pushing on my sternum. Cold leeched onto my fingertips and slowly made its way to my palms, heat boiled in my throat as all the mostiture made its way to my tear ducts.

The problem with living with ninjas? They don't miss anything. "Charlotte, you're lying. I've been trying to get you to snap out of it for five minutes, Donnie was even in here. _What_ happened?"

I jerked out of his grip, the pressure on my head turning into something too much like a migraine. "I'll be fine." _Liar, liar, liar...You know she always hated when you lied, so why do you keep doing it? What if she could see you?_ "Yeah, I'll be fine." I just needed a break.

"Come on Charlotte, I know somethings wrong and you aren't leaving until you give me something." I was already taking deep breaths and trying to focus on anything else but our conversation. And then he blocked the doorway and crossed his arms.

"Come on Raph, I didn't know you could deal with feelings." I was so tired, so done and all I wanted to do was go up to the surface to get some space. And he was in my way. " _Move_. You don't want me to make you." _Like you can make him do anything..._ My fists tightened until my muscles in my shoulders spazzed under the tension, my jaw almost breaking my top teeth.

Raph didn't flinch. He didn't flinch when I talked, he didn't even flinch when I shoved him. He only stumbled out of the kitchen and tripped over a chair, so clumsy for a ninja. "What the fuck Char? I just wanted to help."

There was blood on my hand when I removed it from my mouth, my lip must have split from my canine's elongating. Are they still a canine's when they're a cat's? "You didn't want to help. You wanted to push and prod and force an answer out of me." My voice was quiet but I could see his eyes droop from the weight of my words. "If you wanted to help, you would have let me go. You would have let me calm down because do you know what happens when you push people too hard?" I couldn't see the floor anymore, I was standing over him as he watched my face. "They trip and fall." I don't know when my body decided it was time to leave, but my eyes only saw the gray of the concrete now, the cracks that look like they could have been glass if they weren't so rough around the edges.

"Charlotte!" No, no. I needed a breath of fresh air and this sewer was all poisonous gas. Not even Angel was going to get me to stop running now. My memories were already a plastic bag over my head, Raph just tied it's string to the ceiling and dropped me.

 _Raph's POV_

"You saw the way she was acting before she left, she was like a caged animal. We don't know what set her off but we know something did and now she's out there on her own." Donnie dragged his hand across his face, pausing to pinch the bridge of his muzzle where his glasses rest. "Do y'all have any idea where she would go?"

Angel's paws padded along the floor as she circled the perimeter of the lair, her body shifting as her muscles tensed and released. It wasn't really smart to "order" her back when she went searching for Charlotte, she barely listened if not for Antionette chasing after her and literally throwing a hissy fit.

"She was the closest to her and very clearly she's not in a sharing mood right now." Antoinette snapped as her fist came to her eye, tracing where her dark marks were to rub the sleep out of her eyes. "I'm sorry but Charlotte's always been the calm and collected leader type. She knew what to do and she did it. So if she disappeared..."

"Either she's given up and she's not coming back, something's about to go down and she's scared out of her mind..." The girls looked at each other, asking silent questions about whether they should continue the thought or leave it there.

"Or she's finally cracked and is trying to pick up the pieces left behind to glue it all back together. She's always been shit with puzzles..." The last part drifted off affectionately as Angel finally walked into the conversation with her head held high, eyes glaring at me like I held the answers to what happened to Charlotte. "Charlotte wouldn't run without us, she loves us too much for that. But that doesn't mean..."

The alarm started blaring as an image of a group of ninjas getting lost in the maze of tunnels showed up on the screens, more popping up by the second. They knew they couldn't find our lair so they sent everyone so we would have to split up to attack them all incase one of them by some miracle got past everything. "I hate them so much." They were smart and were wearing outfits that made them invisible to a heat sensor, were sneaking around as to avoid cameras and almost anything else that we could use to find them. But Donnie was smart, he had painted something on all the tunnel walls that once they touched it would make them trackable. As soon as they got past a certain point they stood out like the sun just coming out from behind a cloud.

"Let's go. Charlotte might come back." Leo sent us off in groups, Donnie and Antoinette, Mikey and Jasmine, then the three of us. He wasn't so subtle when he wanted something, both with how he paired me with Angel so we could figure it out and stop being angry but also with his affection for her. He looked at her like she was a movie star, or just a regular star. "Please don't kill each other."

Angel raised her eyebrows at him and sighed. "Only for you, babe. And because I don't want to fight with Charlotte when she comes back..." She smirked at me before her face suddenly broke open to a dark muzzle and light fur. She grunted as she moved ahead of us, her entire body a shadow. She barely fit in the space, her fur licking at the sides of the tunnel.

I tightened my fists around my weapons before releasing the tension with a breath. "That girl pisses me off, I don't know what you see in her dude." His face went weird and it took everything I had not to laugh, he wasn't the best about hiding his emotions but he thought he could at least avoid it enough that we wouldn't notice. "I'm your younger brother and I had to share a room with you for a while. I know every girl you've ever had a crush on and I know that look."

Leo punched my arm and glared. "You know she can hear you right? She's got bear ears..." Whatever he was going to say was cut off by us entering one of the larger parts of the sewer, Angel next to where we came from in a defensive stance. We both tensed as the smell hit us. I couldn't describe it even if I was the best writer in the universe. It was Shredder's lair, the chemicals they used to clean not only themselves but also their armor, the blood...the fear. No matter how much experience they had or how brave they thought they were, every human stunk of fear.

There was no speaking when they attacked, no warning or noise. "Hello boys, you look a little lost. Don't worry, we'll get you to the hospital." If I didn't know any better, I'd say Angel was laughing.

You never really notice when the fighting starts, there's no slow-mo charge or war cry that signifies it. Suddenly you're just in the middle of a ring blocking and stabbing and flipping and kicking. You are in a bubble with nothing else around you distracting you because that could mean your life. They weren't stupid, they didn't let one person hit first. They came out all at once. My favorite kind of fighting.

For some reason they thought hitting my shell was a good idea, maybe it was all the duct tape. None of them were built for enough strength to even make me notice their blows. "Angel!" I watched as the last of my guys dropped and one of her's came down from the ceiling, ready to kill.

If the room was a foot smaller Angel would have died. She stood with surprising speed for someone of her size and swatted the poor ninja to the floor with enough force to probably break a couple important bones. She changed back to human, swaying on her feet. "A bomb. Get back quick." She collapsed quickly, luckily her head landed on one of the bodies around her so she didn't crack her skull. It was the last thing we needed.

"You grab Angel, I'll try and contact the others. Let's hope the others caught the stragglers that didn't show up to help." Leo was already halfway into the tunnel while he talked, frantically trying to get Donnie or Mikey on the phone.

I scooped Angel up with surprising ease, for a bear she was tiny. I didn't realize notice until she was close up and _not_ threatening my life, but basically everything about her features was petite. Weird. "I know she's passed out and not going to care, but why couldn't you carry your "babe"? I mean, she doesn't even like me."

"Maybe that's because you guys are very similar. Polar repels polar." Leo was about to say more when we heard the popping noise from where we just came from. Ours eyes met in a moment's hesitation that might have saved our lives, as we started running immediately afterwards. We were almost to the lair when we saw the fire coming at us, the heat lapping at our arms and faces, almost laughing. If we hadn't hesitated, we would have been turning the corner when it went off. As it was, the next time his eyes opened was on the medical bed in the lair.

"Thank you, thank..." Jasmine was wiping away phantom tears, her breath coming out in hiccups. "She's okay because of you and I can't tell you how grateful we are for that. She's with Leo in the living room, Mikey and Antionette are filling him in."

It took a minute for her words to process in my head, it was pounding like hell from the fall or at least I assumed that's what it was. "What are you talking about? I didn't..." The memory flashed across my eyes as I tried to sit up and the pain hit me like the wall that had collapsed on us. The explosion had destroyed a few important supports for that tunnel and the entire thing caved in on top of them. He had instinctively shielded Angel with his body, trying to take the brunt of the weight. "Oh."

The door was shoved open as April stormed over to him, checking over his injuries and completely ignoring Jasmine's existence. "You boys never catch a break, do you? Do you really have to protect everyone?"

 _I don't, what's going on with you?_ was all I wanted to ask but Jasmine was right there and April would kill me if I embarrassed her. Why did I care about that again? "April, what are you doing here? How did you even know what was going on?" I sat up slowly, flinching from the pain. I nodded at Jasmine to thank her when she injected some painkillers into my arms as my teeth were currently glued together from pain.

"I'll get Donnie but as far as I can tell it's just muscle bruising and soreness." She paused as she was exiting, not even glancing back as she spoke. "We're going to find her you know. She's just scared, scared cats tend to hide. Kind of like when turtles retreat into their shells, and no. I don't mean the thing attached to your spine."

If his pain was bad enough, now his entire body felt like it was on fire. He was just glad he couldn't blush visibly.

 **An: More on how April is dealing with the girls being in the lair in the next chapter. So, what did y'all think?**


	15. Where in New York?

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle franchise or any of it's series. This is mainly based off the movies with some details from the 80's cartoons.**

 **AN:So Charlotte turns into a Lion, Antoinette into a Honey Badger, Angel into a Bear and Jasmine into a Burmese Python. Antionette is with Mikey and Jasmine is with Donnie. Angel is in that flirting, dancing around pinning stage with Leo.**

 _Angel's POV_

It had been only a few days but life was turned upside down without Charlotte. Donnie was starting to fall back into old habits of staying too late in the lab, Antoinette was fighting with Jasmine more often than usual and the boys always stopped outside the kitchen for a minute before going on to do whatever because Charlotte wasn't there with after workout snacks. And well, April had taken over once again.

"Move please, some of us are actually going to see the sun today and would like to be presentable." April pried her way in front of the mirror, fixing her hair while Angel stood there with a toothbrush hanging out of her mouth. "You look better like that anyway."

It took everything she had not to growl, even that was only enough when she remembered that she would probably choke on the plastic in her mouth if she tried. Angel moved out of the bathroom to give the redhead some space to get her hair and ego under control, glowering into the concerte as she finished brushing her teeth in the _kitchen_ sink. She ignored him as he moved around behind her back, trying to find the coffee they'd run out of yesterday because _someone_ needed the rest before her show. "Go ask your girlfriend if you want something to wake you up, I'm sure she'd happily obliged." She rinsed off her toothbrush, banging it on the edge lightly to get some of the water off. "And while you're in there, put this back for me will you?"

Leo rolled his eyes as he took the object from her and wandered off to the bathroom, growling something about hairspray when he came back. He somehow found a secret stash of extra strong coffee and started making a brew for himself, running a hand over his face down to the back of his neck. "Coffee is a relaxant, right?"

Angel almost laughed at his tired expression but she wasn't really sure how that would be taken. "No, it's a stimulant." He kept rubbing that spot right below the back of his neck, rolling it slightly as he waited impatiently for the pot to finish. "Come here, you have a knot and it's not going to go away by beating it." He didn't seem to understand the meaning of her words but he let her move to the counter so she was higher, standing between her legs with his plastron facing her because his shell would have been in the way overwise. What Angel found when she touched the spot he was trying to ge at was a giant knot that was probably painful, he was way too stressed. "You know I got pretty good at massages doing ballet, the girls would always complain about their feet or their arms or just everything and I started helping by working out the knots. I never really trusted anyone to do it for me because one of the guys tried to and ended up pinching something."

He hummed as he listened to her talk, leaning into the touch and almost moaning as the knot finally let go with a pop. She kept massaging it to ease the pain a little, letting her hand fall to his chest when she was done. It always amazed her how warm he always was even though he was the cold blooded one. When she tried to remove her hand, he just grabbed it and wove their fingers together.

"I miss them. I found a couple of my friends at one point, they were on their way to school. Senior year and all, they were talking about college." She smiled when his fingers tightened slightly, the contact was helping. Charlotte was always the one initiating contact with the girls, Angel missed being hugged and cuddled all the time. She suddenly realized she'd been staring at his plastron instead of looking him in the eye, blushing enough that she was glad he couldn't see her face. "It's just weird to think I won't be going, I mean I _applied_ and...is it weird that that's what I'm thinking about right now? My best friend is missing, I'm living with mutants and am now a mutant myself and all I can think about is..."

Leo pressed his forehead into hers, smiling softly. "You know some days I wonder what it would be like if we could walk outside and no one would care. Mikey did it once for a minute, during halloween. But I don't know what I'm missing out on."

Out of sheer surprise, her head snapped up to look him in the eye. "You've...Oh honey you think people won't judge you. Either they don't realize you exist or they judge you. That girl you bumped into? She's got cute hair but she's rude because she made a face at you. That person at the register has crooked teeth but was super friendly. Your best friend for years talks _way_ too much about her new puppy. If someone sees you, they're judging. But...it's not always bad. I think..." He was actually listening to her. Even when Angel was getting interviewed, it was mostly just them wanting to get dirt. Too bad she was about to crush him. "...your coffee is done."

"I know. I'm good." _Nope, don't do this girl. Pretty words are just pretty..._ He moved back slightly to tilt his head, giving her a smirk she never thought she'd see on him. _Oh but he's pretty too..._ "Besides, I don't think I need it anymore." _Yep. I'm screwed._

 _A Week Later..._

"She should have been back by now, she always comes back within a week when she's upset. So either she's captured or...she doesn't plan on coming home soon." The warmth from his body pressing into her back was helping her nerves but there was nothing that could stop her heart from pounding hard enough to move her chest. "Something is going on and I don't know how to help her."

Antoinette was curled up on Mikey's lap, typing away at a computer she'd borrowed from Casey to contact some of her old friends. "Angel, Mama Bear, you need to chill. I just need to..." Her face froze in shock as the computer crashed, screaming as she threw it over to Donnie. "It's doing something and making noises that usually mean run out of the room and hope you live. What's going on?"

He scrambled to fix whatever was happening, sucking in his lower lip for a second as he looked it over. "All of your searches and the conversations you had are deleting themselves. All traces, I know once you put something on the internet it's there forever but I think she's getting rid of it pretty quick." He frowned as he put the computer down, shrugging. "It's not going to explode and all of Casey's stuff is safe, but there is literally no trace of Charlotte on this computer. Na da." He leaned his head on Jasmine's when she wrapped her arms around him from behind his chair, letting him know at least one of us wasn't angry.

"If she doesn't want to be found, we're not going to find her. Thank you for trying Donnie, and I know you guys have been doing your best to look too." Angel gave them a weak smile as she tried to leave, only to find Leo was not going to let her go any time soon. "Babe, let go please. I need some space right now." He whined quietly as he rested his chin on my shoulder, but he let me go. "I'm just grabbing something in the kitchen, I'll come back out when I'm ready."

She really wished they had actual alcohol instead of Charlotte's ginger beers, but they would have to do because the fuzzy feeling in her stomach was at least a good distraction. Angel's eyes started to droop as she sat there, her body wasn't meant to take this much stress. Mom always told her about the stones that had indents from the feet of man, even something as strong as rock can bend to a stubborn human. "You always said I was as rough around the edges as a rock, looks like I'm being beaten down like one." It was only a whisper into an empty room, but they created a vacuum that seemed to suck even more life out of her. If there was one good thing about her being kidnapped, it was that her mother would never hear someone say the words, "Your daughter is missing," or worse, "Your daughter is dead." Angel was the only one who visited her grave enough to let her know, but dead girls don't visit graveyards.

 _Raph's POV_

Leo wanted to follow Angel immediately, he started pacing in place as he watched the stairs to the kitchen to see if she was going to come out. Raph just wanted to grab his shoulders and force him to sit, reminding him exactly why Charlotte was gone. Raoh had pushed her boundaries, ignored what she was asking him to do because he wanted to fix it. It was something he had been dealing with since she left, it had been twelve days and all he wanted to do was go back and tie himself up in his room so she could have the space she needed. "You sit down and go check on her if she's not back in ten minutes." He moved to go upstairs to head to his room, but paused outside the kitchen when he heard April talking.

"Thank you, you don't know what this means to me." A short pause followed as April switched the phone she was holding to the other ear, bringing out note paper and a pencil. "You used the names I gave you, right?...Good." She wrote something down, nodding as the person on the other end relayed something important. "Wait, hold on a second. You're telling me that she's a real person? Charlotte Campbell?"

Raph had to cover his mouth to keep from huffing or asking her _what the fuck she's doing_ , but he knew he would get nothing out of her if he revealed he was listening now. He leaned more into the doorway shadow to hide himself in case she happened to glance behind her.

"Wait, let me get this straight because you sound like your mouth isn't connected to your brain right now. Charlotte is Charlotte Johna Campbell, a girl who went missing two years ago in New York with her girlfriend who is a known member of the Foot Clan. Does she have her tattoos yet?" Another small pause as she sucked in a breath through her teeth. "You've got to be kidding me. Thank you." April ended the call, quickly dialling another number and tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for someone to pick up. "Casey, it's April. I had a contact run discrete background checks on the girls and you won't believe what I found. Jasmine legally doesn't exist in any country with available or hackable records. Antion is wanted in at least one other country and in quite a few states. And Charlotte...Charlotte might be an agent for the Foot, her girlfriend is a known one and that means..."

Raph stopped listening at that point, storming away from the open bathroom door as he tried to go to his room again. He paused for a second to breathe through his anger, trying to remind himself that Charlotte was _not_ faking her memory loss and April was just trying to help. But everything was a mess and all he wanted to do was punch something to focus on the pain instead of this. Pain made sense.

"Raph?" Angel was leaning against the wall behind him when he turned around, her eyebrow cocked as she looked over his face to find the reason he was standing their with his fists balled and his breathing heavy. "I heard what April said too you know, I had just woken up and I was heading back to the living room." She rubbed her arm where five scars lined up next to each other in the shape of a claw mark. "We didn't all come from the same facility. Jasmine was shipped from Britain, Antoinette was caught in Russia and was on the same cargo ship as her. Charlotte and me...We were the only ones from the same place, which is why we're so close. They pitted us against each other in fights to see who was stronger, they wanted an Alpha and a sense of fear and anger towards one another so we wouldn't team up. But one day we got put into the cells next to each other and I heard her crying. I told her crying wasn't going to do anything but make her body tired. She told me she'd rather pass out from exhaustion than get any actual sleep." The girl in front of him suddenly looked so small even though she was only a head shorter than him. "Charlotte doesn't remember _anything_ and she hasn't for the entire time I've know her. That girl is not part of the Foot Clan."

He just stared at her and wondered why she was telling him any of this, it wasn't like they were close or anything. Yeah he saved her, but that basically just made them not hate each other and ignore the others existence. "Are you saying that for yourself or me? Because I think we both needed to remember that." Raph finally got to his room without a girl grabbing his attention, but when he climbed in his bed he pulled the blankets to his nose to breathe in her scent. Antoinette had told him how she slept in his bed that day and his bed hadn't stopped smelling like her. "Why'd yeah leave, darlin'? I know I screw up sometimes, but you always let me fix it...What was different this time?" (2424)

 _Charlotte's POV_

"You want the _real_ taste of New York City? Come on and get some of her famous pizza, you've never tasted anything like it and you even when you come back again!" The guy was trying to get tourists to wander into the trap of a pizza shop. He seemed overjoyed when Charlotte stepped inside, taking a deep as the warmth wrapped around her,

"Hey Kevin, get me my usual." She leaned over the counter to wave to the girls in the bakery, rolling her eyes when she caught sight of Kailley making out with with someone against the freezer door. Probably Tanner, they'd been dating her for a couple weeks now. "And make sure Kailley doesn't touch it, I don't want cooties! Or an STD!" Charlotte moved out of the way of other customers as she waited for her order, watching the people mill about in the little shop. She was there every day for lunch and news on her family, Kevin was the one to deliver their pizza so he always had news. "My boys are doing okay, right?'

Kevin nodded as he put the pizza down in front of her, giving her a look that meant he wasn't exactly happy. "They're really worried about you. They told me about you and asked me to tell them if I saw you. From what I gather, they don't want no one to know you're missing. Or exist."

Her smile turned dangerous as she showed off teeth that could tear apart flesh in seconds and crush bone. "It's good that they care, not that they're worried. For now, it's going to stay that way and you're going to make sure no one starts coming around and asking questions." Charlotte's eyebrows raised slightly in warning, making sure he understood she would and _could_ quite literally eat him if he stepped out of line.

"Kevin, get your sorry ass over here! You're a delivery boy, not a flirty waiter!" His sister glared at the two of them from her spot at the register, tapping her long nails _so_ threateningly in the tip jar as a poor couple tried to order.

It was almost funny to watch him glare at her, looking sheepish as he slowly slid out of the chair like he wanted to stay. "I'll leave you to deliver pizzas. Call me if the late shift gets interesting..." She partially walked on her tiptoes out of the store, grinning madly as she danced down the streets. Charlotte slipped her headphones on, using her "borrowed" phone to listen to music and block out the world. She had a hood to shadow her face, blending in with one of Antoinette's leather jackets and casual clothes. If anyone saw her, they'd just move on. She was just another dark teenager on the streets of New York.

 _In her hiding spot..._

"THIS IS WHERE YOU WANT TO BE!" The music blared from her computer as a notification popped up with information that could possible help her with her research, her chair swiveling as she looked through the article on her screen.

There was a cold spot growing on her lip where she kept hitting the metal part of her pencil, her eyes searching frantically for anything that could move her forward. "Come on, come on..." Even just a word, one word...All she needed was nine letters all lined up to make her name, maybe even just the word _**missing**_ in bold letters to draw her attention. "God damn it!" Charlotte was so close to throwing the computer across the room and so close to...well now, nothing. "This was supposed to be it."

Doing this by herself was like trying to ride on the back of a tandem bicycle with no one on the front part. It was like playing tug of war with a brick wall covered in concrete, while wearing ice skates. It was frustrating and infuriating, most of the time she just wanted to curl up in a ball and never wake up. Sleeping alone was starting to get to her, her body wasn't prepared for how _cold_ it would be.

"Keep it together girl." Charlotte glared at the computer screen as it faded to black, going to sleep like she probably should have. But she took a couple shots of espresso and turned it back on, ignoring the time and date that appeared in the corner. At one point she'd duct taped over it, but then it just shone through and made the screen all gross. "Maybe I should just go home...It's not like this is working..."

Her phone buzzing brought her attention away from failure, grinning as she saw the number flashing in her face. "DARLING! I've always wanted to do that...Anyway, I got a lead on that person you're looking for. She was from Germany originally..." Her contact rambled off random information that she recorded quickly as something swelled in her chest making her feel like she was going to burst. This was _something_. "Can I ask why you want to find her?"

"She's got something of mine and I intend to get it back." She ended the call quickly, hoping he wouldn't question her vagueness and biting tone. "Yes, yes, yes!" She cheered as she ran to the other room and basically tackled it's occupant. "I found her babe." She looked at the face before her, not understanding the words coming out of her mouth but knowing something was wrong.

The girl before her beamed, kissing her lightly. "I'm happy for you Charlotte. Did he say where you could find her?" There was something in those eyes that made her nervous, but maybe it was just because her girlfriend always made her nervous. That was normal, right?

It was getting hard to tell the difference between the memories and reality. She could only snap herself out of it when she saw that girl, the one that made her heart tap dance and her brain go fuzzy. She didn't know who that girl was, but it was like she was the only thing that mattered to Charlotte in the entirety of the world.

"Have you decided to go back? You know it's getting worse." Charlotte knew he was right, she was just thinking the same thing. But it was hard to make that choice with what she'd been doing and her blackouts coming at random moments. She'd had to rely on him too much to make sure she didn't do anything dangerous.

Her eyes drifted to the one who'd kept her hidden all this time. "I don't know Casey...how am I supposed to face him again?" That was one of her major worries, having shot at him with her words and taken all of her broken pieces to use as shrapnel in cannon fire. "I'd be ready to go back but...I have no idea what I'm going to do when I get there. Apologize? He _was_ pushing my boundaries but I reacted badly. And then there's April, she's been looking into my past and staying with the boys and..."

Casey just raised his eyebrows and waited for her to realize the words coming out of her mouth were ridiculous. "Raph adores you way too much and if you're scared of April, you shouldn't go back. Yeah that girl could kick your ass if she needed too but you could also kick hers and shouldn't be afraid to be there."

Charlotte groaned as she face planted into the table, sighing. "Why do you have to be right? Can't you just go back to being a do gooder cop who was conflicted about housing me?" She grinned as he just threw her a drink instead of responding. They'd gotten over the whole, "I still am" comeback at that point.

It was hours later as he helped her pack up her stuff that she paused to look at him, smiling shyly. "Thank you for letting me stay here. And for talking some sense into me." She was surprised when he gave her a hug, but she fell into it without hesitation. He was like a big brother to her now, he was annoying as hell and she would gladly leave his apartment that never seemed to stop smelling like pizza and beer, but she would miss him. And if she ever needed to get away, he would be the first person she would call.

"You be good and make sure that boy knows just how much he doesn't want to make you feel like that again." He ruffled her hair before helping her pull it back into a french braid, admiring his handiwork for a second. "Do you want me to go with you or are you going to wander around a little bit before getting there?"

She was about to tell him she was fine to walk alone, but common sense told her walking alone was the surest way to have a blackout in the five minutes it took to get to the lair. "Can you come with me?" Charlotte grinned as he snatched a hat and coat off the back of one of his chairs, throwing his arm around her shoulder as he walked her to the elevator. "The surest way to ward people off in New York City. Hang out with a cop."

She just laughed as Casey gave her an exaggerated pout.

 _At the lair..._

The most terrifying thing that happened to her upon arrival was not Angel charging her in bear form, it wasn't the angry expressions on her sisters faces or the disappointment on Splinters. It was the fact that Raph wasn't there which meant either he wasn't there...or he didn't want to see her. "Where have you been?!"

Charlotte wasn't really sure how to answer her as Angel nuzzled her all over, checking out all the new scents. "I can't tell you Antion, not yet at least. I know we all need to talk but..." She finally got her hands around Angel's face enough that they could look each other in the eye. "You and I need to have a conversation, in human form. I am not talking to an angry grizzly bear about feelings." She moved to go to their room, surprised when she found it almost bare.

"We stopped sleeping in here a while ago, Antoinette sleeps with Mikey sometimes when Raph's in the room to watch them. Otherwise she usually just passes out on the couch. Jasmine sometimes sleeps in Donnie's room while he's working on stuff in there, Leo can see them so Splinter doesn't really care, but usually she's by the hot water pipes." Angel was leaning on the doorway, her eyes drawn up the ground and refusing to meet Charlotte's. Her body was almost curled into itself, submissive and almost... _weak_. She was always the powerful one, protecting them with everything she was and everything she had. At one point when they were being held, Angel had refused to let her fight, replacing her in every battle as if she was a bloodthirsty warrior. But Charlotte knew she hated the fights, she just would rather go through them then see her friend suffer. Seeing her weak was like seeing grass turn purple or New York City being silent.

"I'm sorry." The words tasted like banana licorice, something pretending to be something it wasn't. "I started to remember and...I don't know if I'm really back or if I'm going to wake up in Casey's apartment again..." Charlotte fell to her knees as she cried, holding herself. "I'm sorry that I caused you worry but I'm not sorry that I left, I had too and I get it if you don't want to forgive me..."

Laughing was not the reaction she was expecting. "You come here after two weeks without contact, with Casey fucking Jones' arm around you and a really good excuse..." Angel collapsed too, reaching out to hold her hands as tears streamed down both their faces. "You are such an idiot, you know that? You're an amazing leader but when you aren't worrying about someone else you lead yourself into a wall. I'm still upset with you for leaving, that's going to take some time to forgive. But I understand why you left because I know you and you wouldn't have done anything different, couldn't have if you tried. So I accept your apology."

Until that moment, she hadn't realized how much she'd missed being called an idiot and having someone know exactly who she was. Without the makeup, the confidence, the memory loss...She missed having her best friend. "I love you." Charlotte rubbed their noses together, smiling as they both relaxed into the embrace.

Angel wiped at her face with the back of her hands, shaking her head as she pulled them to their feet. "Now I know that was emotionally draining, but at least you got this one out of the way before..." She flinched as Charlotte's eyes widened to an impossible size as the girl realized what she was going to have to do. "You can't avoid him forever you know. He missed you as much as I did and...you need to talk to him."

"That's not what you were going to say." Charlotte tried to twist the conversation into a fight to avoid the topic like she had so many times before, but the difference this time was she wanted to have the conversation too. "I'll go talk to him...do you know where he is?"

There was a knock on the doorway as Leo turned his attention to them, his expression stony. Maybe she'd been worrying about the wrong brother the entire time..."He's in the garage working on his bike, please don't break anything while you're in there." He took Angel's hand as they disappeared, leaving her to believe she missed more than anyone was letting on.

 _In the garage..._

"You're back." Raph wouldn't look at her as he kneeled in front of the bike he was working on...which wasn't his? She filed that away for later. "Was there something you wanted to talk to me about?"

She nodded even though he wasn't looking at her, blushing as she sat on the other side of the bike so they didn't have to look each other in the eye. "I speak German. I don't know how but I can swear at that guy that sells corn dogs by the park, he really hates me. Casey was mad at first because now we're both banned for life, but I started teaching him some so he forgave me." The words didn't make much sense but it was like her brain was floating next to her body as she talked, she had no control over what was happening. "I used to have a girlfriend and she joined the Foot. I don't know what she looks like but I know she used to steal my ginger beers and take me to see plays. I know that when I got turned into this, she was the first thing I saw after it happened and she said, _I guess you were good for something after all_. I don't know if if the name in my head is the one on my birth certificate, I don't know sometimes if I'm in a memory or if I'm in reality. But what I do know is that I missed you so much it scared me and I'm really sorry for leaving."

She was surprised to find that the bike was gone and in its place, he was kneeling in front of her. "I'm sorry that I pushed your boundaries and that I set you off when I stole one of your drinks, at least I'm guessing that's what happened." Charlotte found it funny how awkward he looked, like he was having _the talk_ with his other. But the fact that he was trying held her back and kept her quiet. "I'm glad you're back Char." Raph leaned forward so he could kiss her head, pulling away again in case he made a mistake.

Charlotte wrapped him in a hug, curling up in his lap as she hid her grin in his neck. Contact was all that mattered. She was touch deprived and the only person she wanted was him at that point. "Thanks for the bike by the way." It couldn't have been more than a whisper, but from the heat suddenly coming from his face and the darker coloring, she guessed he heard her. _Yeah, it's really good to be back._


	16. Removing the Blindfold

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle franchise or any of it's series. This is mainly based off the movies with some details from the 80's cartoons.**

 **AN: So Charlotte turns into a Lion, Antoinette into a Honey Badger, Angel into a Bear and Jasmine into a Burmese Python. Antionette is with Mikey and Jasmine is with Donnie. Angel is in that flirting, dancing around pinning stage with Leo.**

 **CHECK OUT TRUCK BEDS AND FLANNEL BLANKETS! It's a cute Donnie and Jasmine moment that I wrote for inspiration, but I wasn't sure how to add to the story.**

 _Donnie's POV_

Having Charlotte back was like going back to school after summer vacation, or at least that's what Angel said. At first it was awkward with wary, "how have you been?"s, "where did you go?" and trying to figure out where you fit back in. Even with those of us who weren't gone, it was strange to have her around again. Suddenly strong smells of food wafted out of the kitchen when we were done practices, the hum of a foreign song carrying a melody so soft it felt like a pillow. Suddenly there was someone else in my lab everyday, fighting for use of the computer and taking naps on the medical bed. Suddenly I get ran _out_ of my lab for sleep and the coffee was hidden somewhere only those with self control knew. Of course she forgot where it was when I asked, but maybe that was just a cover.

I didn't mean to sneak up on her the way I did, or maybe she knew I was there and just didn't care. But no matter how it happened, I watched as she looked over screen after screen of missing persons some of which were German. She was scrolling with blinding speed, narrowing it down until she was looking at a report in German of a girl who looked similar to the way she did now. "Is that you? Is that what or _who_ you've been looking for?"

She jumped slightly at the sound of my voice, closing all of her screens as something started whirring in the background. "I found what I was looking for the first hour I left. This, this is just what comes after that." She walked over to a printer I wasn't aware we owned until I saw her pull a paper out of it. "And no, this is not me. I was born in America, she was not. But she's a puzzle piece I didn't even know I was missing, I've only just dumped out the box." Charlotte started tapping her fingers on her thigh in a random pattern as she moved around to a pile of other papers. "Are you any good at puzzles? Maybe I should ask Mikey, he always loved this type of stuff…" It was whispers and afterthoughts, her words tumbled out of a mouth that was moving on to the next sentence before they'd even reached his ears. They were obsolete the second they left her mouth, but she said them like they held the greatest importance in the world.

"Char, you need to take a breath. You're muttering about puzzles and…" I felt my face squint as she white knuckled the desk, staring at the piles of paper. "Are you okay?" She didn't answer, her eyes never leaving the papers as her body started to sway slightly. I didn't know what to do but apparently my instincts thought they did as I found myself prying her hands off the metal, ignoring the indents, and pulled her under my chin. I just stroked her arms like I was trying to warm her up, hoping it would get them to move.

Raph walked in at that point, his eyes narrowing with I just looked at him helplessly. "She's either dissociating or having a flashback." He walked over to us on quiet feet, lifting her head so he could look her in the eye. "Babe, you need to snap out of it." For a terrifying second, nothing happened. But then her fingers twitched and her shoulder rolled slightly, her body slumping into the hold we had on her. "Thank god you were just dissociating." He pulled her away slightly so he could get arn arm around her waist, pressing their foreheads together. "Casey told me that when she does this it's like time stops for her, so something has to be introduced that wasn't there before for her to snap out of it unless she does it herself. If it was a flashback…" He shuddered, pulling away as she gained her balance again. "What was it this time?"

She shrugged as her body seemed to deflate, her eyes drooping and her lower lip falling down with a small _pop_ like she couldn't even handle holding that up. "Rambling till shut down. Going to nap, come with." That was also something new, Charlotte no longer slept with the other girls since they weren't exactly in the room all the time. So she took naps with Raph randomly.

"Or we could talk about what you were doing…" I almost applauded him for the effort of trying to get her to open up, but even Splinter knew arguing with her when this happened was futile. My poor brother was faced with an adorable, pouty Charlotte who had her arms crossed and was swaying on her feet. "Or I could carry you upstairs so we can nap." He sighed as he picked her up gently, she was already asleep before he got her feet of the ground. Between dissociating, her natural instincts as a cat and the fact that she'd been working in the lab for six hours, it was no surprise to anyone when they left the lab like that. It actually was happening so often, Mikey had stopped teasing him for it.

Angel watched them go from her position on the floor where she was stretching, her eyebrows disappearing into her hairline when she saw me. "Any new information on what happened while she was gone?"

"All of her papers are in German. The only thing I have is some dates, but they're from World War II and the Cold War. But it's the same girl in every picture and she looks like Charlotte, shell I would actually believe they all _are_ Charlotte." I sat down on the couch to find Jasmine crawling to my side, curling up their. " Does anyone else have something, or are we still nowhere?" All I needed was to look at their faces, the eyes trained on the floor and the fact that April looked angry. We had been searching since she got back, trying to find any clues to what had kept her way so long for different reasons. April was helping to prove the girls were no good, though that wasn't what she said out loud. The girls were looking because they wanted to help Charlotte with whatever it was, and we were losing trust in her past. We loved her, but if something from her past compromised us that she didn't remember…We needed to know.

 _When Charlotte First Left..._

It was a terrible decision on her part, her first memories were of being overseas in a training facility and being forced into the arena like Angel. She was not prepared for the streets of New York. The noise that seemed to come from everywhere all at once, the smells that danced with each other in a sort of linear pattern as they moved down the street together, the lights that screamed, "look at me! Look at me!" It was overwhelming and messy and...familiar in some way? The hum of the city settled around her like a friend's arms, welcoming her home after a long trip.

Her feet moved without the consent of her brain as it was too busy taking in everything, processing the world of light that she wasn't used to. Her world was the night, glowing lights that left shadows for hiding and whispers on rooftops made of broken rock. Somehow she found her way to an old apartment building, typed in a code that she shouldn't know and made her way up to an apartment that wasn't hers. She had to stop herself from knocking on the door, her eyes tracing the number and the fact that there were two types of nails holding it in the door. "Ms, are you okay?"

Charlotte's hand flew to her cheek as she wiped away the remains of her tears, nodding slowly as she tried to understand why she was crying in front of a stranger's door. "Yeah, I just used to live here."

"Charlotte?" She turned in confusion to find an older gentleman looking at her in amazement. "Yes, you were the one who was here with...oh, what's her name?" She was almost afraid that her heart would beat too loud and she would miss what he was saying, his nose scrunched as he tried to pull unimportant details from long forgotten files. "I guess she never really did introduce herself, I always felt like it was rude to ask after how many times she rented a room from me." He seemed to be lost for a second, his memories tugging at the corner of his eyes to draw them to the door number. "I believe it was you who fixed my door after that angry man barreled through to talk to her, I can still picture your expression as you shooed him away with the wrong end of a baseball bat…" He seemed to be drawn out of his daze as he finally remembered he was talking to someone, blushing darkly as he looked at her face. "I'm sorry dear, you probably just wanted to get back to your apartment and here I am thinking your someone else."

Not once in all of her memories had she felt such a gentle pull towards someone, it was as if he was holding onto a rope attached to her inflatable circular floaty, keeping her from drifting too far. "Mr. Bennett, you don't have the wrong person. Have you been drinking with Lily again?" She wasn't sure what her mouth was doing, but the man laughed as he relaxed back into a less defensive position.

"Never again, Charlotte dear. Not after I ended up on the roof in birthday suit dropping water balloons, waste of them i tell you. There was no one even around, I was hitting nothing!" Mr. Bennett sighed happily as he led her through the building to an office, reclining on an old armchair. "You and that girlfriend of yours left right before it happened, Lily went to knock on your door to come find you but Rocky was moving out boxes. Said you had gone ahead to the new place, you two were…" Charlotte wasn't sure what happened after that, if she fainted or simply zoned out so abruptly that he called for help. But when she woke up, there was a girl standing over her with a concerned expression.

"Are you alright?" It was hard to focus when a cute girl in a low cut top was leaning over you, brushing your hair from your face and biting her lip in concern. Hormones were a thing and they just kept saying kiss her senseless but that would just mean _Charlotte_ was...senseless that was. "You just collapsed and Mr. B ran to get help. It's just you and me now, can you sit up?"

She shook her head to clear away the remaining dizziness, pushing her body off the rug and moved so she was leaning against a couch of some sort. "Sorry, what happened? You're pretty..distracting! That's not any better, is it? I think I hit my head…" Charlotte almost wanted to curl up and die right there and then, using her hands to cover her blush. "I'm a mess…" The laugh that pulled her out of her own thoughts sounded magical, too beautiful to be real.

"You're in high school of course you are, just wait till you're in college." The girl was showing too many white teeth in her smile, one of them was chipped. It just made it more perfect. "I'm Raquel. You can call my Rocky if you want, all of my favorite students do. I'm the new intern." Her eyes flashed dangerously, the sky before a storm. It made Charlotte's heart do something it really shouldn't have.

 _Present..._

"If you wanted to learn about what I did when I was gone, you could have asked me." She was leaning back against the bottom of the railing, her eyebrow raised as she watched us scrambked to clean up the papers I'd taken from her workspace. "You all really do have terrible social skills." She pushed herself off her resting spot, almost dancing over to the spot on the floor Raph had taken. He didn't even flinch as she moved his legs so she could reclin against his chest, his arms around her waist and his chin on her shoulder. They were so touchy since she got back, always holding hands or letting their legs press against each other when they sat down. "What do you want to know?"

I had no idea what I was doing, but April wasn't about to let her get away without fulfilling that promise. "Who are these three women? They all appear to look like you but none of them are, we want to know why you were looking into these women and why all of this information is in a language you don't speak." Ever the investigator.

Charlotte laid out the pictures on the floor in order of date, pointing to the first one. "This is Carla Sauer, wanted by two different governments but died of old age in Germany two years ago. This" her finger moved to the next picture, a fond smile appearing on her lips, "is her daughter. She married a scottish soldier who was stationed in Germany, taking his last name. This last picture is their daughter who was never married. Their last name was Campbell, same as mine. My grandmother was Evelyn Johna Campbell and she came to America with me when I was thirteen weeks old." She grabbed another piece of paper, translating as she read. "'I compared the sample you gave me to the one in our prison records and the DNA matches, whoever the sample was from is indeed Evelyn's daughter.' The unmarried daughter of Campbell."

I looked over all of the information she had as I tried to process what was happening. "You didn't get all of this in a few weeks, this is years of information that you've collected. Either you got this from someone or you've been working on this since before we met."

Charlotte nodded slowly as she brushed her fingers over their pictures, her eyes never leaving the pages. "I have. Most of this information is from a storage unit I tracked down, where the Foot soldier who took me dumped it. No one would buy it and the guy who owned them didn't want to waste the energy of burning it." She handed them back to April, moving back to her original spot. "From what I remember, I had just gotten my license when I left my home town. The Foot soldier that grabbed me was an intern at my school, she was nineteen and a huge flirt. Brought me to New York when she was twenty one and helped me gather all of this information. Then she got bored and I got taken. The details are fuzzy but that's what I remember."

Raph nuzzled everything he could reach; her hair, her cheek, her shoulder. It was his way of comforting her in the best way he could, the only way he knew how to. "She was a lying manipulative bitch, she had years to do this to you. It wasn't your fault." He glared at April as she looked like she was going to say something, either about her being a lesbian or her dating a older girl.

"Thank you for telling us." Splinter was silent as he moved to where we were all crowed. It was strange to see him, he usually meditated with Jasmine in a separate room as he complained there were too many teenagers for him. "I apologize for any stigma towards you for your loss of memory and your absence. Is there anything else you were made aware of while you were gone, something small even?"

I almost wanted to leap in front of her to act as a shield, telling them to leave her alone. But Charlotte didn't need someone to leap into the line of fire for her, she had a kevlar vest. "She targeted me for a reason, she was really interested in my family and where we were from. But I don't know why." She turned to look at Raph with a tired expression and a lazy smile that took too much effort. "Come on, you promised that I could teach you to make dinner for once. Mikey shouldn't be the only one slaving away in the kitchen." She pried his arms off of her waist and tried to stand up, but Raph wasn't having any of it. Even though Charlotte was more the natural leader type and Raph was the muscle who when _calm_ could lead, they were both more stubborn than donkeys made of concrete. "Babe, I love you, but I will break your arm if you don't let me up."

The sheer shock of her saying those three words let her break free and pull him up the stairs to the kitchen. Mikey was making an "ooh" face, the expression that appeared when he watched one of us get in trouble instead of him. "Did she just say what I think she just said?"

"Don't act so surprised, Charlotte says it all the time. You know, when she does this?" Angel held up her hand, sticking her thumb out parallel to her palm while her ring and middle finger were bent. "This means I love you in sign language, what did you think she was doing when you guys went out on patrol?" She seemed to find this hilarious, a smirk appearing on her face as she looked at our faces.

Splinter chuckled softly as he turned to go back to his room. "I thought you said they wouldn't make life interesting, my sons. It seems even with all your training, you still have a lot to learn." _Maybe about girls_.


	17. You've Got To Be Kidding Me

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle franchise or any of it's series. This is mainly based off the movies with some details from the 80's cartoons.**

 **AN: So Charlotte turns into a Lion, Antoinette into a Honey Badger, Angel into a Bear and Jasmine into a Burmese Python.**

Secrets are a funny thing, because everyone says they come out eventually. So what's the point? Why would you lie if everyone knew you were? "Come on Jasmine, you are terrible at hiding your hand." Because sometimes the lie is worth the time it takes for it to be revealed.

"Am I?" She spread her cards out for them to see, a snakes smile appearing on her face. Deception, stealth. That was what a snake was. A chameleon is talked about as a person who hides for protection, a snake is one who lies for fun. But all reptiles come from the same family. They just shed their skin differently. "I believe I win…" She reached for the cash, tsking as one of them flinched towards their weapon. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, you know Mama doesn't like blood on her floors. I'd hate to not be allowed back here." She moved the cash into a duffel next to her, waving to the small Italian woman working potatoes on the stove. "Thank you for hosting tonight, ma'am. I appreciate you lending your time."

The men at the table were of varying backgrounds, different parts of New York that held different status. But all of them held that instinct that was set off when she stood, sighing as her perfectly curled hair moved to reveal slitted eyes and glittering scales. They were like freckles along her cheek bones, eyeshadow on her skin. "Why are you leaving so soon, baby doll?"

In New York, not even fangs and reptile scales could scare away a horny man. There was a hand trying to makes it way up her leg, ignoring the knife sheaths. "Because a smart woman knows when to walk away. And a powerful one listens to her smarts." She moved out of his range and tilted her head as she glanced back at Mama. "Tell Chiara I said hi, she was always right about cards." The smirk on her face was knowing as she left a tip for the staff with the doorman, slipping out of the shop and down to the alley where Donnie was waiting to catch her. "I got a big win today, means a lot of pizza for us."

"You are one shell of girl." He kissed my forehead like he was always so fond of doing, smiling as he moved so he was the one carrying the duffel and slid an arm around my shoulders. "You're giving me a weird look, did something happen while you were gambling all those thugs out of their fancy watches?"

"You're a bit of a culture shock." It slipped out as she took a deep breath, letting the comfortable warmth seep into her shoulders and left side. He laughed as Jasmine rolled her eyes, trying to formulate a sentence. "I met Mama the first time I visited the United States, I was seven years old and I had run away to explore. I was dragged my the hair into the kitchen by her youngest kid, Chiara, because I was pickpocketing customers. I was sat on a stool and told to peel potatoes until my fingers were blistered and sore. I helped clean when the shop was closing and accidentally burned my finger tips off. But before I left, she hated me a take out container and fork so that I could eat on my way home."

Donnie started running his fingers through my hair while he walked, not really focusing on it when he untangled it subconsciously. "So...my rude and abrasive nature is the culture shock? You aren't exactly…" An _oof_ exhale released as she whacked his stomach, glaring. "I'm just saying!"

"You have to let me finish! You know I get frustrated if I don't." For some reason his cheeks heated up and he bit his lip like he was nervous, she would ask him about that later. "Anyway, I went back. I spent an entire month working in her diner, dealing with men who had wandering hands and crude words. Chiara got the worst of it but she needed the tips. One of them ended up coming back after closing and he found a knife in his crotch from me. Men suck. But apparently turtles don't."

He chuckled as he kissed her head again. "I will take that as a compliment and a reminder that your past is scary. I would not have wanted to meet you back then, but I'm happy you're here now." She had wanted to tell him about her past for a reason other than to give an example, she could have used the man that day if she just needed too. She needed him to have a reason to question her. To question why a seven year old was allowed to run around New York, why she called the woman Mama or even why she was only _visiting_ the US. He was supposed to be curious, but with her, he left space. And it might end up killing them both.

Sensei watched them all as they went through their combinations, strikes clean and kicks strong without damage to the hips. Lithe movements that were just sparing for his students, joking smiles as they tried to best each other. He signaled for them to cease practice, moving over to where Jasmine was looking like she was strapped to a hospital bed. Terrified and stiff. "Relax, child."

If anything she just stiffened more as she reached for a bottle of water, taking deep breaths. "Yes, sir." She shifted to a submissive stance that would never be taught by Splinter, forcing her muscles to release their tension.

"If you need water you may take a drink, meditate on what you have improved and what you need to work on. I will let you know when you are finished." If anyone was paying attention, they would have seen Jasmine's hesitation. The fact that she wasn't meditating but _waiting_ , anticipating a strike that would never come because being prepared for nothing is better than being unprepared for anything. Maybe if Splinter wasn't still unnerved by the girl who could quite literally swallow him whole, he would have paid closer attention.

"Girl, Splinter said we could leave." Antoinette smiled at her sister, still in the lotus position, with those fangs of hers peeking out. "Charlotte and Mikey are going to russel up something good if you're hungry, we'll save you leftovers if you aren't." She didn't wait for an answer, swept away by Mikey's fireman carry tackle. It was almost comical to think about the fact that the one girl who they feared the most in the beginning was the one with the least amount of secrets, the one they trusted the most.

Someone sat in front of her in spandex shorts that left little to the imagination and a loose crop top. April didn't usually work out in the Lair but they didn't treat her like a fragile flower who couldn't punch correctly here. "You seem to be a little distracted lately, you want to talk about it?" April was still suspicious, still poking through old wounds trying to see what caused them. She was especially angry that she wasn't the center of it all anymore. She was still their "Hogosha" but she was simply April to the girls. To Casey. "I know we've had it rough in the past, but after everything that's finally been talked through I think we can work it out."

"I know you finally accepted Charlotte and tolerate Antionette for Mikey's sake, but you don't like me. We both know that." Since it was revealed that the girls' leader wasn't a spy for the foot clan and her past was quite literally forced into the light, the red head wasn't as... _unsure_ about her.

Reporters were trained to spin words and dig for things deep under the surface. From the fact that she was talking to Jasmine, she gandered that April had tried finally digging into her past far enough to find it was fake. "If you want me to cut the crap, why don't you? There is no record of your existence besides a few old photoshopped internet accounts and one apartment deed. I thought it couldn't be true, but then I thought about what you told the boys. _Nothing_." The girls were in relaxed positions, almost like they were talking about what to have for dinner that night instead of getting ready to fight each other if anything went wrong. "So why don't you tell me why that is?"

"I'm not American? You how Charlotte wasn't born here either?" She was enjoying the shock on the other girl's face a little too much but after what she had been through because of the questions and the fear...she deserved it. "Now if you'll excuse me, I want to eat with my family. You can sit here and try to figure out who I am, or you can join us and you can learn." Jasmine almost danced out of the dojo, pausing right before the door. "On second thought, you should stay here. I'm not a big fan of anything that hasn't already been deboned."

"Mama says I need to start properly feeding you all, she doesn't trust Charlotte to be the only one. I tried to tell her that Mikey cooks but I smelled like delivery pizza." She reclined back between Angel's legs, resting her head comfortably on the larger girl's thigh.

"I am horribly offended that she doesn't trust me. But if she sends more Zeppolis I won't be…" The lioness had her cheeks full of the italian donut, making noises that left her uncomfortable boyfriend shifting in his seat. "I love this woman with all my heart, we have to go to her shop at some point. Could she adopt me, please?"

On her last trip to the diner, Mama had handed Jasmine bags of food to bring home with her because, "You're too skinny. Those boys 'taking care of you' must be worse because I know I taught you to get to the food first." She was only five foot and looked like she would break if you hugged her, but she was one forty cousins that were almost all boys and could take them all down by force or with a look. "Size only matters if it means you can dust the tops of the shelves or if you aren't eating enough." And so, there they were eating take out in the living room like normal teenagers.

"She already has four kids and is in the process of adopting more. I think she's got her hands full with Jasmine." Angel's laughter only increased as said girl whirled around to attack her. The dancer was ticklish and even the feather light touches left her in hysterics. "I'm gonna puke, leave me alone! I only speak the truth!"

She was freed from the onslaught when her attacker was snatched up by her boyfriend. "She's being mean, I need to enact my revenge!" Jasmine pouted as she was restrained against his chest, finally giving in to his death grip so she could curl into his chest and hide her face in his neck. She flinched as a twinge in her stomach sent warning signals through her whole body. _Please let this be food poisoning_. "I think I'm dying again...do you have any more of that vaccine stuff that you got from your vet contact?"

"You aren't dying. You probably just ate too much." Donnie kissed her cheek and avoided touching her stomach incase the pressure would hurt her more. "Thank you for bringing us food, it was really sweet of her to think of us."

"Someone's getting fancy with his words! 'It was really sweet of her' and all that." His best friend was giggling profusely as she tried to steal the last slice of pizza from her boyfriend. "Hey, I thought this was a healthy relationship!"

Raph gave her a look. "You're going to get fat off this much pizza, it's only unhealthy if I don't give it to you." If it was anyone else he would have died before the word much finished coming out of his mouth, but Charlotte was never going to be an American girl. She just kissed him hard, using it as a distraction to snatch the slice out of his hand and stuff most of it in her mouth. "That's unfair." He rolled his eyes when she handed him her crust, leaving a grease mark on her cheek when he kissed her. "You are such a terrible person, I don't know why I let you stick around."

"Because you love me." It was just four words that made everyone freeze and started playing a laughing sound track in her head. The couple didn't seem to realize what a scene they were making like this was completely normal.

"I only love you when you're nice to me, so…" Raph laughed as she whacked him in the plastron, growling lowly in her throat. "Come on! You stole my pizza! People have started wars over less, including…" He yelped as she extended her claws inches from his thighs, growling at her. It was like they were feral animals, communicating only in angry noises and giving each other death glares.

Jasmine grabbed one of the take-out boxes and threw blindly at the two of them, trying to break whatever was going on between the two of them. "Knock it off!" She tried to smother the smirk when as she said that it hit the lioness in the ear, forcing her to flinch away from the staring contest she had going on. "If you two don't want to be mature adults and talk this out instead of creating some weird," she glanced around to make sure Splinter wasn't in hearing distance, "mating ritual, you can leave!" She huffed as she reclined back into her cozy spot, enjoying the sudden decrease in tension. She knew that the two of them loved each other, that much was obvious even to the other's. But Raph being Raph wasn't sure how to tell her because just saying he loved her back didn't seem like enough for someone who never thought they were good enough for that. Charlotte on the other hand was worried that she'd scared him off with her talk and now was twisting that fear into quick anger to defend herself. Not that either of them would ever admit to her being right, so she kept her truths to herself.

They all watched as the blonde stormed off to the lab, hidden tears rubbing salt in emotional wounds.

"I want to go out for a run, who wants to come with me?" She didn't even look up from what she was making, her ears having memorized the weight and sound of everyone's footsteps. "Someone just got excited. Let me guess, Mikey?" She spun around to see her cooking partner nod before handing Jasmine a burger stacked high with bacon, onions, an egg and one of her famous sauces.

"I love you Charlotte!" Jasmine plopped herself down on her seat, raising an eyebrow as Leo went to protest. "If you can handle Angel sitting on you, you can deal with me for the five secondss it takes for me to eat this."

"Are you sure she's not on there for only five seconds too?" The small girl squealed as she ducked behind her boyfriend, avoiding the fries being thrown at her. "I'm just teasing, we all know you can make it to ten!" As Jasmine whined from her sudden spot on the floor, poor Antoinette was trying to fight her way out of Leo's grip. "I had three brother's too, you can't hold me forever." She picked up her feet, hoping the sudden weight forced him to release her, or at least stumble, but he just rolled his eyes. "I will morph in your arms."

Without warning, Leo dropped her and went back to his seat. "Angel baby, tell them exactly how long you could stay on my lap." He nuzzled the mortified girl's face, his eyes hazy with something when he looked at her.

"Hmm...about as long as it will take for you to realize what you just said and snap out of it." Oh, _oh._ "And maybe some fresh air would do us all some good." _Shit._ After spending so much time together the girls had synced with Charlotte first, Angel second and then the last two following soon after. If the boys had as good a sense of smell as the girl's did, they could smell all of it coming. And their brains were calling for an action none of them were ready for yet, let alone the only two in the lair who had not otherwise figured out their feelings for each other. When he pulled away in shock, Angel breathed a sigh of relief.

"A run it is then." The deep voice from the entrance way made them all jump in surprise, too busy avoiding the pheremones in the air to pay any attention to who was in the room. Raph just gave them all a look, lingering on Charlotte with an indifferent expression before leaving the rest of them to collect themselves.

Nothing was ever easy for her, was it? She started her life as an experiment under an asshole father figure, escaped on a cargo ship with a weird blonde who never stopped talking and immediately got captured when they got to America. Then she escaped again when the same girl broke out and made some ragtag team of mutant girl's that created a nest in an abandoned building and did patrols at night to protect themselves. Then of course each of them found a different brother, decided they were cool and ended up living in the brothers' home because theirs got blown up. So it wasn't surprising when a simple run to clear the air between them all, quite literally, turned into a fight.

"Watch your heads!" Charlotte launched herself into the fray after springboarding off a wall mid transformation, her teeth growing straight into an enemy robots neck. With the head in her teeth as a trophy, she turned to look for her next victim.

"You're doing great sweetie!" She air high fived Mikey for the amazing pop culture reference, her tongue flickering out to sense any humans. One other mutant, six humans. One of the scents was muffled, like they were watching from a car nearby. Controlling everything. Jasmine quickly informed everyone of her findings before heading off to find the humans, her own special job considering she was the best fighter against human targets. The males struggled with holding back enough, Charlotte would likely eat one of them, Angel would swat one away and crush their skull and Antoinette was having way too much fun using fallen robot parts to destroy their comrades.

"Jasmine!" Donnie threw his staff through the weak spot of one of the attackers in her way, stopping it from grabbing her throat. She quickly destroyed it and threw her boyfriend back his weapon.

"Hello soldier, what can I do for you today?" Using that voice again made her want to scream, but it was instinct around self preservation. But considering the look on the man's face, it was more creepy than submissive. She slinked forward smoothly, swaying slightly like a King slipping out of its basket. Beautiful, hypnotizing and deadly. But you can't look away, the danger is the best part. "I remember you, you know." There was a sword at her neck so she kept moving towards it, giving the chance to cut her if he wanted to. Forcing him to move with her if he wanted to obey his No Kill order. "You guarded my cell when I first got here to America, you couldn't understand why they had chosen me for the mission. Not until you saw me fight in the arena, listening to every word spoken and doing every action called for. But now I'm not listening to anyone. Does that scare you, soldier?" While he was distracted she had slowly made her way closer until it was too late. She pulled his sword away from him, twisting up to throw him to the ground. They landed with her thighs around his neck, squeezing in just the right spot to make him blackout. She had a No Kill order too.

Every soldier was met with the same dance. A question, a story and one hell of a distraction before they were face down in the road away from the robots. Letting the get trampled was the same as murder, no matter how much she didn't like them.

Fighting while the world was throwing her past shit in her face was hard enough. Jasmine could handle the instinctive submission, the uneven breathing and the emotional whiplash every time she saw their faces. But she wasn't fighting alone and her team was reacting right alongside her. Charlotte kept roaring over the noise to check on her, keeping close no matter how little she needed the help. Donnie was handling it better than her sister, only checking on her when he could take a breath instead of keeping a constant eye on her. But maybe it was a good thing they were watching, because as soon as she fully morphed to join back in the robot fight her mind went blank.

" _You're going to get caught like that." The girl was smirking like she knew something the rest of the world didn't, sliding down next to Jas. "How long have you been hiding here?" Too stunned to respond, the girl took her silence as mutness. "Ah, that explains it. Well I got a spot you can hide in as long as you pull your weight." There was joke about girls with thick arms whispered under her breath, one Jasmine didn't care to comment on._

 _Charlotte was not anything like she was expecting. She was confident with her words and moved around the ship like she had memorized the plans right off a page. And speaking as someone who had actually memorized them, Jas was impressed._

She was snapped back to herself when she got thrown into something, morphing back to catch herself. Her palms were scratched up from the asphalt but they would heal quicker than the effects of her entire body hitting it. Her opponent was someone she recognized, the other mutant that she had smelled when the fight first broke out. One of the rejects who lost their ability to think beyond basic instincts, a great set of muscle but it was a struggle to control them and wouldn't be a great fit for the field. They were trained with territorial marks, their only thoughts were to protect the unit it was with and to grab whatever morsel fell closest to eat. "Hello Baby, have they been treating you well?"

The being froze for a second as if taking in the softness of her voice, almost like it had never heard anything like it. Which might have been very true, when she was a captive she was the only one to talk with kindness to the Animals. She refused to call them rejects like the soldiers. But kindness didn't matter in the animal world. She was no longer a part of the pack so she must be killed and she was something Baby could eat. And the way it was treated, Baby was always hungry.

Jasmine had to duck away from the sharp blow aimed at her skull, the mutant was much larger than her and it was going to take some tactics to get around her.

" _Fight!" It was an order than she didn't hesitate to follow, dancing around her opponent as she analyzed every detail. The creature before her barely looked human anymore. It must have been one of the first subjects, a combination of a hog and some type of cat. It had a long snout with fangs instead of canines and could use a set of braces, it's eyes were in the perfect spot for a predator which was most likely why it got to live. It was one of the successful rejects. "Attack!"_

 _She wasn't sure who the order was for but she didn't care as she launched herself at the beast, curling her arms around its waist and using her momentum to throw it to the ground. Interest peaked inside her as she watched it land on all fours, snarling as if it was completely unaffected by her throw. She could see the broken rib poking out of its body from where she flexed and squeezed._

" _Give us a show or end it." It wasn't an arena per say like the other mutants called it, but it was a ring with ropes caging them. There was no crowd besides a single voice who gave them commands, who tracked their hits and stamina. Who wrote stats on how well they would do in a field situation. "Your choice." She almost laughed._

"Jasmine!" There was someone over her, protecting her body from the heavy blow aimed to break her in half. Baby's signature move, one she remembered well. She'd watched it happen too many times for it not to be burned in her memories.

She shoved her boyfriend off of her so she was between _it_ and him, a hiss rising in her that escaped between barred fangs. This was a battle of animal instincts, the past was something she could learn from but nothing else, she had no feelings for the reject. She couldn't, or she would lose.

" _If I ever get my hands on that foot soldier that hurt you, I swear to god I'm going to tear him apart but by sorry bit with my bare teeth." Charlotte had just taken a bath and wasn't quick enough to cover the scars on her upper,_ inner _, thighs that looked like bite marks. "I want him to feel every bit of pain you did." Antoinette was a growling, snapping mess as she paced the floor of their new hideout._

 _In the back of her mind, Jasmine wondered why the other girls cared so much as Angel curled herself around Charlotte in a hug. Why she cared so much for the girl who "helped" her escape. "I can't believe they would do that to you."_

" _You guys are so dramatic, the scars are old and are from when I first arrived so it's not like they haven't healed." And that's when Jasmine realized why they all cared, because their fearless leader had mental wounds alongside her physical ones that_ _ **haven't**_ _healed yet. And they were angry because they didn't know how to help her. It was a strange feeling. But when Charlotte started wearing shorts because she realized the only reason the girls cared was to protect her, she decided that she liked this new feeling. When she figured out what it was...maybe she could ask father?_

The fight was like nothing that had ever happened on the streets of New York before. As the foot soldiers numbers dwindled, it gave them enough room to really fight. Bodies were thrown into buildings, sewer lids were used as projectiles and cars were used as hiding places when they needed a breath.

She was constantly shifting in and out of her snake form, appearing as a type of greek monster that she couldn't remember the name of while fighting. On the plus side, she had crushed Baby's right arm and destroyed her hip as well. But besides a few road burns and bruises, it was completely unaffected by anything else she threw at it. She herself was nursing some bruised ribs and a crushed cheekbone. She could feel her body working to fix her broken bones, draining her energy to make sure she did didn't take one hit and crumble. She was going to need to end it soon if it was going to end at all.

 _Gasping, the crushing weight of something on her chest as fingers wrapped tightly around her throat. The memory had been oppressed for so long she almost thought it was a nightmare, but the fear was very real. The betrayal as no one did anything to stop it. So she stopped it. She ripped it's head clean off it's body, forcing her body to change underneath it as she did so it's hands would be forced to leave her body._

 _The antidote left her loopy and quiet for almost three days instead of the usual weeks. With her mind cloudy, her own blocks were forced to let memories through. She was angry at being disposable to anyone, no matter who gave the order. But to the girls she was a sister, someone to protect at all costs like she would do for them. It was mutual instead of blind. She refused to be blind any longer._

Her anger came crashing back as she charged it, slamming her body into its legs. She changed quickly, wrapping herself around it's midsection first so it's arms were pinned while it was still dazed. She worked her way down to it's legs, enjoying the tensing of her body as it slowly woke up to find itself paralyzed. She was told not to kill any of the soldiers, the Turtles didn't kill. But she did. And it was either end it now or fight again later when she wouldn't be so lucky.

There was a scream when the snap of it's spine finally happened. When it was dead, she moved off its body and forced herself through her instincts not to eat it. "You killed it." _Yes, yes she did. Was that so bad?_

When she was in her natural form again, her eyes adjusted to the light as she took in the destruction around them. But the fight wasn't over yet, she could still sense the man from the car. He was somewhere with the few soldiers he had gotten to the area. Elites meant to kill them. "Don't let your guards down, there's more coming." Even through their shock and horror, they could comprehend the fact that there was still danger. They could shove it to the side to make sure they stayed alive to come back to it. The first soldiers appeared at their flanks, hopping to take the group by surprise. It was a small hope that was immediately crushed by Charlotte leaping from a fire escape and taking down two of their ranks. Soon the others followed and Jasmine tried to join the fight.

"Hello my daughter, I'm so glad to see you're alright. You'd stopped communicating with your American handler, I feared the worst." The man she'd seen as a father stood before her in nothing but a crisp suit, unarmed and unprotected to the untrained eye. But she knew what he could do to a person. What he had done to her.

"I am not your daughter anymore, I don't even believe I ever really was! I have a family now, sisters who I will give my life up to protect." She bared her fangs as she tried to turn to help, catching the moment when Antoinette was stabbed through the leg with an arrow. "ANTOIN!" She was faster than everyone there but moving felt like she was swimming through blood. She was moving too slowly, it was sticky and hot. There was no real sounds that cared.

Not until he gave her an order that she couldn't refuse. Not after what he put her through, she didn't have the strength to fight him. "死 (Shi)." Her world went black as her lungs constricted.

 **AN: So I'm not really great at writing fight scenes so I try to show the fighting by describing injuries and leaving suspense like you'd feel watching a fight on a screen. We learn more about Jasmine's past in this chapter and in the next one it's explained what happened to her. I thought you could use a longer chapter due to my late updating. Almost 5400 words! Hope you enjoyed.**


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